Nets To Sign Bojan Bogdanovic?
SATURDAY, 1:51pm: Bogdanovic pegged his chances of joining the Nets at only 50% or slightly higher when speaking to a Croatian radio station today, as noted on the website Sportnet (translation via Nets Daily). Bogdanovic denied that a deal had been signed, though no deal can be officially signed until the July Moratorium is up on Wednesday, anyway.
FRIDAY, 8:23pm: Bogdanovic will get a three-year deal with a starting salary of about $2.4MM, tweets Howard Beck of The New York Times. That would leave close to $800K on the mini mid-level for the Nets to sign someone else. That wouldn't be enough room to bring on a player for as much as the two-year veteran's minimum salary, but as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News points out on Twitter, the Nets may prefer to let that money go unspent so they can save on their already-hefty luxury tax bill.
8:03pm: The Nets have reached agreement on a deal that will bring 2011 second-round pick Bojan Bogdanovic to the team for the coming season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The team acquired the draft rights to the Bosnia and Herzegovina native shortly after he was taken 31st overall by the Heat two years ago.
When it appeared the Nets would use their mini mid-level to sign Kyle Korver, it looked like Bogdanovic would not be coming stateside this season, since the rookie minimum salary would have been all Brooklyn would have had left to give him. With Korver heading back to the Hawks instead, that frees up as much as $3.183MM to give to Bogdanovic as a starting salary.
The 6'8" small forward maintained interest in playing for the Nets even as it appeared he wouldn't get the chance to do so right away. He averaged 14.3 points per game and shot 38.7% from three-point range this past season for Fenerbahce Ulker in Turkey.
Odds & Ends: Barea, Kenyon, Sampson, Copeland
Here's more from the NBA on an landmark night in free agency:
- A Dallas source tells Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities that the Mavs' agreement with Jose Calderon likely knocks them out of discussions for J.J. Barea. Still, the Wolves remain upbeat about their chances of a Barea deal with the Mavs, in what would be a salary dump enabling Minnesota to clear money for a defensive-minded wing player (All Twitter links).
- The Spurs have been one of many teams reportedly interested in Kenyon Martin, and now they're "in hot pursuit" of the veteran big man, though the Knicks and others remain in play, tweets Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com.
- Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game heard that Rockets assistant coach Kelvin Sampson wouldn't return to the team, but Sampson tells Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston that he'll be back in Houston. (Twitter links). "That's just a bad rumor," Sampson said. "I'm looking forward to a great year with the Rockets."
- The Pacers and Chris Copeland discussed a third year that would have been a team option, but settled instead on their two-year, $6.12MM agreement, writes Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com.
- Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group briefly looks at what the Warriors could do with the trade exceptions they'll acquire as part of their deal with the Jazz. He also hears that the W's see Andre Iguodala as capable of handling backup point guard duties, so the team will prioritize finding a backup center over a backup point guard (Sulia link).
- In a separate piece, Thompson recounts the steps Iguodala took on the way to his agreement with the Warriors, noting that Iggy has long considered Golden State a desirable destination.
- Lately, agent Dan Fegan has been preoccupied with other free agent clients, such as Dwight Howard, so he and the Wizards have yet to begin discussing an extension for John Wall, writes J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. Wall is extension-eligible this season, and will hit restricted free agency next summer if he and the Wizards don't strike a deal by Halloween.
- In an interview with DraftExpress.com, Dario Saric suggests that the Mavericks were interested in making him a promise at No. 13 had he not withdrawn from last week's draft.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Mutual Interest Between Thunder, Derek Fisher
There's mutual interest between Derek Fisher and the Thunder, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. The Thunder are considering Fisher, among several options, for the role of third point guard behind Russell Westbrook and Reggie Jackson, but history and "mutual respect" are helping Fisher's case, Berger writes (Twitter links).
Fisher has finished the last two seasons with the Thunder after signing in the middle of the year. The veteran has played a key role in the team's last two playoff runs, averaging 22.3 minutes per contest in the 2011/12 postseason and 23.7 MPG this spring.
If the Thunder bring back the Landmark Sports Agency client, it figures to be on a minimum-salary deal. Even though Kevin Martin agreed to sign with the Wolves, Oklahoma City is still in line to be over the cap, so the team will have to rely on exceptions to replace Martin and improve the roster for next season.
Dwight Howard On Decision To Sign With Rockets
Dwight Howard has been speaking with several reporters in the wake of his choice of the Rockets earlier this evening. HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy is one of them, and he delivers the big man's thoughts in Q-and-A format, including Howard's revelation that he asked the Lakers to hire Phil Jackson as coach. The entire piece is worth a read, but we'll pass along a few highlights here:
On the decision-making process and how the Rockets swayed him:
"It wasn’t really the presentation. Every team that I talked to had a great presentation. And it’s not like I came in thinking that the Rockets would be the team and didn’t pay attention in the other meetings or anything like that. I really listened. I took notes. I asked questions. I did everything I could to make sure I was making the best possible decision for myself. I just looked at everything in the end and I just felt like this was the place to go."
On turning down the Lakers:
“Very tough. Very, very, very tough. Very, very tough. People wouldn’t understand. Walking away from them and walking away from $30MM. That shows you right there that I want to win. I want to win. Nothing else matters other than winning. I don’t think anybody would’ve ever walked away from $30MM, but I want to win. But yeah, just walking away was tough. I was walking away from six million fans. I was walking away from a storied franchise. All of that makes it tough and it makes it a really, really big risk. I learned a lot from the situation in Orlando though, when I was afraid to walk away because I didn’t want to hurt people. I was afraid to leave because everything seemed like it was great. But now, I’m doing what’s best for Dwight. People are going to be mad and upset either way, so I’d rather be happy. I want to be happy playing basketball rather than upset doing what everyone wants me to do.”
On whether the Rockets pitched the idea of playing with Josh Smith:
“They didn’t talk to me about it. They just talked about the opportunity that they have for me and what they can provide for me as a player. That’s what was intriguing for me. But like I said in the beginning, it was very tough. Very, very tough.”
Celtics Notes: Rondo, Stevens, Assistants
The major news of the evening involves the Lakers, who've lost Dwight Howard to the Rockets. That's surely pleasing to Celtics fans, who could use the boost of seeing their archrival spurned after watching Doc Rivers, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce depart in short order. Here's the latest on the rebuild in Boston:
- Reiterating a point he's been making often lately, Celtics GM Danny Ainge tells Chris Mannix of SI.com that he's "certain" Rajon Rondo will still be on the roster to start next season (Twitter link).
- Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com provides an interesting timeline on how the Celtics came to hire Brad Stevens as their new head coach.
- Ainge says Jamie Young and Jay Larranaga will join Stevens' coaching staff, as A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com notes via Twitter.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Rockets, Hawks Talk Josh Smith Sign-And-Trade
10:50pm: The Rockets are getting "no traction" in their efforts to acquire Smith via sign-and-trade, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
7:16pm: Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports hears the Rockets and Hawks haven't discussed a Smith sign-and-trade. Still, talks could begin soon, a source tells Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
6:16pm: The Rockets and Hawks are working on a sign-and-trade deal that would send Josh Smith to the Rockets, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com, who figures Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin are headed to Atlanta. Presuming Dwight Howard signs with Houston, such a move would give the Rockets a third star to pair with James Harden while facilitating Asik's desire to move on.
It's not clear exactly what kind of contract Smith would get out of the deal, but he could wind up with as much as approximately $74MM over four years in a max deal, with a starting salary of about $17.35MM, though the final max figure won't be known until the July Moratorium ends next week. Asik's and Lin's salaries for next season add up to about $16.7MM, so a max deal for Smith, which he said during the season he'd be seeking, could be in the cards.
Of course, even if the Hawks and Rockets agree to a swap, Smith would have to give his consent. Smith has been contemplating his future since meeting earlier this week with teams including the Pistons, Rockets and Hawks.
Paul Millsap, Hawks In Serious Discussions
The Hawks and Paul Millsap are engaged in a serious dialogue about a deal, according to HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy (Twitter link). The Jazz renounced their rights to Millsap earlier today, limiting Utah to re-signing him for no more than their $2.65MM room exception. Conversely, the Hawks have plenty of cap room to sign the power forward to a much larger deal.
There's been little chatter about Millsap in the free agency period, though the Celtics were reportedly interested in him at the trade deadline and again this spring, before they went into rebuilding. The DeAngelo Simmons client saw declines in his scoring and rebounding averages this past season, but at age 28, Millsap remains in the upper echelon of NBA power forwards, far outpacing expectations when he was a second-round pick in 2006. Millsap made $8.6MM in 2012/13, the last year of a four-year, $32MM pact.
The Hawks have an agreement with Kyle Korver on a four-year, $24MM deal, but they have only three other players from last season on fully guaranteed deals. They're reportedly linked to the Rockets in what could be a sign-and-trade deal involving Josh Smith and Omer Asik, and given their cap space, they could become even more active now that it's assured they won't be signing Dwight Howard.
Nuggets Making Strong Push For Monta Ellis
8:28pm: Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports also hears the Nuggets have "major interest" in Ellis, but he says more suitors have emerged in the past few hours (Twitter link).
6:58pm: The Nuggets are engaged in a serious pursuit of Monta Ellis, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.com. Ellis has had "several substantial discussions" with teams, Charania hears, and some sign-and-trade possibilities arose. Still, the Nuggets will have some room available to sign Ellis now that Andre Iguodala is headed to Golden State.
Yet with about $51MM in guaranteed contracts, the Nuggets won't have that much space to offer a deal to Ellis. The salary cap is projected to be $58.5MM for this coming season, meaning Ellis would likely only be able to sign a deal with a starting salary of around $7.5MM with the Nuggets, unless the team pulled off a sign-and-trade or cleared cap room with another swap. That $7.5MM figure is a far cry from the $11MM figure Ellis turned down in an early-termination option with the Bucks.
Omer Asik Wants Out Of Houston; Pelicans In Mix?
8:01pm: There's no question Anderson would intrigue the Rockets, but the Pelicans are wary of giving him up without getting more than Asik in return, Wojnarowski tweets.
7:29pm: The Pelicans have shown strong interest in Asik, and are likely centering their offer on Ryan Anderson, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
5:53pm: A source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com that Omer Asik wants out of Houston, and other teams are already making pitches (Twitter link). Once a deal between the Rockets and Dwight Howard is finalized, Asik could be sent to the Hawks for Josh Smith, though the Mavs are also making a push, Berger adds via Twitter. I presume he means the Mavs are making a push for Asik and not Smith, but that's just my speculation. Chris Mannix of SI.com and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com reported earlier details on the story, with Windhorst noting that the Hawks would sign to a sign-and-trade offer for Smith.
A destination that would appeal to Asik is the Bulls, where he began his career, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. That would reunite him with coach Tom Thibodeau, who'd also be interested in such a deal. That might be more difficult for the over-the-cap Bulls to pull off than it is for the Hawks or Mavs, however. Asik has $16,749,292 left on his deal over the next two seasons. The Hawks won't rush in to any deal, according to TNT's David Aldridge, who says the team won't be making moves just to be "active," and any move would have to fit with the team's culture (Twitter link).
Even if the Hawks aren't interested in Asik, several other teams, including the Warriors, are, tweets Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game. Late last month a report surfaced indicating the Rockets were looking to unload Asik and Jeremy Lin, though Houston GM Daryl Morey backtracked from that story. Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors wondered if Morey's comments were simply to try to make sure Asik and Lin would still be on board if Howard passed on signing with the team, but it appears at least that Asik has been turned off. Lin would be tougher to move than Asik, Bucher points out, noting that many front offices view the point guard as a backup.
Windhorst raises the possibility of Asik heading to the Lakers in a Howard sign-and-trade, and notes that Asik doesn't want to play in any twin-tower Rockets lineups alongside Howard, either. While Asik's cap hit for the next two seasons will be around $8MM, he's actually owed more than $20MM total because of the way his deal with Houston was structured, per the Gilbert Arenas Provision.
Rockets To Trade Royce White To Sixers
7:50pm: Furkan Aldemir is headed to Philadelphia as well, tweets Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, identifying the international prospect in the deal.
7:02pm: The Rockets have agreed to trade Royce White to the Sixers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Houston will receive future draft considerations from Philadelphia, and the Rockets will throw in the draft rights to an international prospect as well as cash.
White, the 16th pick in the 2012 draft, never appeared in a regular season game for the Rockets because of his battles with the team concerning accomodations for his psychological disorders. He averaged 11.4 points and 5.7 rebounds in 16 games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston's D-League affiliate.
The move clears White's $1,719,480 guaranteed salary from Houston's books, though as HoopsWorld's Eric Pincus points out (on Twitter), the Rockets still probably need to clear a little more room to fit in a max contract for Dwight Howard. That could entail simply cutting one of a few players on a non-guaranteed deal. Greg Smith, James Anderson, Patrick Beverley and Tim Ohlbrecht all have deals that aren't fully guaranteed, though Beverley would figure to be the least likely among them to go.