Samardo Samuels Signs To Play In Israel
Former Cavaliers power forward Samardo Samuels has signed with Israeli club Hapoel Jerusalem, David Pick of Eurobasket reports. The move had appeared close since earlier this week. Samardo's deal will cover two months and pay him $50K, excluding any extra cash he may earn with the team in postseason play. That pales in comparison to the $356,833 worth of prorated minimum salary he garnered for a partial season in the NBA with Cleveland this year.
The Cavs waived Samuels in January, right before his contract would have become fully guaranteed for the season. He was in the third year of a deal he signed with the team after going undrafted out of Louisville in 2010. Samuels averaged 3.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 10.9 minutes per game for Cleveland this year, a decline from the 7.8 PPG and 4.3 RPG he put up in 18.9 minutes per contest as a rookie. Despite interest from the Nets and Thunder, and later the Grizzlies, Samuels signed in the D-League shortly after his release from the Cavs and notched 19.8 PPG and 10.3 RPG in 32 games for the Reno Bighorns.
Hapoel Jerusalem had Craig Smith, another ex-NBA power forward, on its roster until he experienced a falling out with head coach Sharon Drucker, prompting the team to cut Smith loose in March. Among the other players the team considered before deciding on Samuels were Othello Hunter, who spent parts of two seasons with the Hawks in 2008/09 and 2009/10, and Rick Jackson, who was in camp this past fall with the Warriors.
Pacific Rumors: Lakers, D’Antoni, Kings, Marshall
The Lakers held on to their half-game lead for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference with a two-point win against the Grizzlies last night, and if L.A. makes the postseason, they could get some reinforcements. Coach Mike D'Antoni revealed that Metta World Peace could be back by the end of the month, knocking two weeks off the original six-week timetable for his recovery from a left knee injury, tweets Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. Jordan Hill tells Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News he's seeking medical clearance to return at about the same time, though D'Antoni is skeptical about that. Either way, there's reason for optimism in a season that's left Lakers fans with little of it. Here's more on the purple and gold and other news from the Pacific:
- Most signs, including the three years left on D'Antoni's contract, point to him returning to coach the Lakers next season in spite of the team's disappointing play, writes Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein also suggests that while Dwight Howard may have sway over D'Antoni's future if the big man threatens to sign elsewhere, Howard won't have nearly the clout that fellow soon-to-be free agent Chris Paul will wield on the Clippers' coaching situation.
- Regardless of who's in charge of the Kings next season, the "leaguewide presumption" is that neither GM Geoff Petrie nor coach Keith Smart will return, Stein adds in the same piece.
- Kendall Marshall wasn't among the 10 players I mentioned yesterday when I examined 2012 first-round picks who've seen limited action this season, but his 568 total minutes would make him the 11th player on the list. He's been seeing more action of late with the Suns, and Marshall tells Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic that he's finally starting to feel comfortable.
Grizzlies Send Dooling, Wroten To D-League
We’ll track today’s D-League assignments and recalls here, with any additional moves added to the top throughout the day.
- The Grizzlies have sent point guards Keyon Dooling and Tony Wroten to the D-League’s Reno Bighorns, tweets Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Both will be back with Memphis in time for Sunday’s game against the Kings, Tillery adds. The team had to get the consent of Dooling to assign him to the D-League, since he’s a 13th-year veteran and league rules only allow players with less than three years of experience to be assigned freely. Dooling briefly appeared in one game for Memphis this week after the team signed him to take some of the backup point guard burden off Wroten, a rookie.
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, J.R. Smith, Nets, Collins
Depth at guard and the resurgence of Jeff Green have helped the Celtics remain relevant in the wake of Rajon Rondo's injury, as HoopsWorld's Stephen Brotherston details. Brotherston ponders the chances of a Heat-Celtics clash in the first round, and believes the Celtics would relish another playoff series with Miami. I'm inclined to believe Doc Rivers, who told reporters yesterday, including Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com, that he's not trying to match up with the Heat."Listen, I’m not that dumb," Rivers said. "I’m not the brightest guy but come on. Really, you would love to avoid anyone (like Miami)."
While we wait to find out Boston's first-round opponent, there's plenty of other news from the C's and their Atlantic Division rivals:
- Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com spoke to a pair of agents, an NBA executive and a longtime scout who agree that there's uncertainty surrounding this summer's market price for Knicks sixth man J.R. Smith. The soon-to-be free agent's inconsistent play and reputation as a frequent partier could hold down his value, but a strong postseason performance could help him, Zwerling writes.
- The playoffs will determine the fate of Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who believes the team won't hesitate to go after marquee names like Phil Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy.
- The Sixers have already picked up their team option on coach Doug Collins for next season, and all indications are that the decision on whether he'll return will be left to the coach himself, Stein reports in the same piece.
- Petraglia wonders whether midseason pickup Shavlik Randolph — a veteran of four total playoff minutes — could be a postseason factor for the Celtics.
- Celtics guard Jordan Crawford clearly has little love lost for his former team. The ex-Wizard twice said, "I don't recall playing for Washington," to reporters Saturday. Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe provides detail.
Rockets Believe They Can Clear Space For Dwight
The Rockets aren't currently in line to have the cap space necessary to offer Dwight Howard a maximum-salary contract this summer, but the team is confident it can swing trades to clear room for his max deal if he's willing to sign with Houston this summer, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Sources tell Stein an "obvious option" would be to trade Thomas Robinson for a future draft pick.
Salary Cap FAQ author Larry Coon this week broke down the Rockets' ability to make a run at Howard, pegging their available space for this summer at between $16.7MM to $18.2MM, depending on how high the league sets the salary cap in July. Opening up that much room without making a trade would require the team to decline its option on Francisco Garcia and waive seven others whose contracts aren't fully guaranteed for next season, including starting small forward Chandler Parsons, whose deal is partially guaranteed for $600K.
Dwight Howard's maximum first-year salary would check in at $20,513,178, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors detailed. Howard's max is larger than any other free agent this summer because the collective bargaining agreement ensures a player can always sign for 105% of his previous salary, and Howard's $19,536,360 salary this season is the largest of anyone hitting the open market.
In order to give Howard the max, the Rockets would have to make a trade. Giving up on Robinson, the 2012 No. 5 overall pick whom the team acquired at the trade deadline from the Kings, and Parsons, perhaps the NBA's best bargain, would be difficult to stomach, but I don't think the Rockets would hesitate to do so if they knew they were getting Howard.
Stein also writes that, even as the play of James Harden is making Houston an increasingly attractive destination, the Mavericks have long been considered the greater threat to sign Howard. Coon looked at the Mavs' ability to land D12 as well, noting that they're set to have less cap space than the Rockets this summer. That means Dallas, too, would have to swing a trade to fit a max contract for Howard under the cap. Both the Mavs and Rockets could also try to work out a sign-and-trade with the Lakers for Howard, Coon adds, noting that while the CBA bars taxpaying teams like the Lakers from receiving a player via sign-and-trade, it doesn't preclude them from sending players out in such a deal.
Jazz Sign Jerel McNeal For Season
SATURDAY, 1:10pm: The Jazz announced a contract with McNeal for the rest of the season, via press release on the team's website.
FRIDAY, 11:25pm: Jerel McNeal's 10-day contract with the Jazz expires tonight, and while McNeal hasn't received word on whether he'll get another deal, the team has told him to report to practice Saturday morning, tweets Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune. That seems as much of any indication as any that the 6'3" shooting guard will continue his stint with Utah, whether it's for another 10 days or the rest of the season.
McNeal has yet to log any playing time with the Jazz. Unlike many teams who use 10-day deals as an opportunity to try out talent for the future, Utah is fighting for a playoff spot, and may simply want McNeal around to provide depth if an injury to someone else should occur. The team may also want to get a look at him over the summer, in which case the Jazz may do a rest-of-the-season deal with an option or a non-guaranteed season tagged on for 2013/14.
The 25-year-old McNeal made the D-League All-Star Game this winter for the second time in three years, and put up 18.1 points and 5.5 assists per game in 44 D-League regular season contests for the Bakersfield Jam. McNeal has also played professionally in Italy after going undrafted out of Marquette in 2009.
Odds & Ends: Rockets, Wilkins, Llull, Hornets, Draft
The remaking of the Rockets started not with the acquisition of James Harden but the hiring of coach Kevin McHale, writes Beckley Mason of ESPN.com. In a lengthy piece that examines Houston's philosophy, Mason points to Josh Smith and Andrew Bynum, the two free agents he sees as most likely to change teams in the offseason, as the sort of players the Rockets don't usually target. Yet fellow ESPN.com scribe Amin Elhassan, in an Insider piece, pegs Smith as a perfect fit in Houston. Elhassan looks at ideal destinations for four other marquee free agents, and as many teams start to ponder the summer in the last days of the regular season, here's the latest from around the Association:
- Damien Wilkins' minimum-salary deal with the Sixers is up at the end of the season, but the 33-year-old tells Lang Greene of HoopsWorld that he has no intention of retiring and wants to play until he's 40 (Twitter link).
- Spanish point guard Sergio Llull is considering heading to the NBA at some point but still has unfinished business with Real Madrid, as he tells Eurosport (translation via HoopsHype). The Rockets own his NBA rights.
- The Hornets will look for a small forward and depth in the draft this year, tweets Jim Eichenhofer of Hornets.com.
- Scouts generally see center Alex Len as a project, but they haven't been thrown by his up-and-down play for Maryland this season, valuing his athleticism and shooting range, according to Don Markus of The Baltimore Sun.
- The rosters are out for this year's Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, which features college seniors, and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com analyzes the field. Only four players within Givony's top 100 are taking part, led by No. 45 prospect Solomon Hill.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Tyreke Evans
Blake Griffin and Stephen Curry are the only players from the 2009 draft who've averaged more points per game during their careers than Tyreke Evans has. Yet while Griffin received a five-year maximum-salary extension and Curry got four years and $44MM, Evans wasn't one of the eight players cashing in on the more than $400MM that teams handed out in rookie-scale extensions this past offseason. Now he'll try to make his money as a restricted free agent this summer, hoping teams will look past his declining numbers and history of losing with the Kings.
An early season report suggested the Kings would trade Evans if they didn't think they could re-sign him, and despite interest from other teams, Evans remains in Sacramento. That might have more to do with apparent restrictions placed on the Sacramento's front office as a part of the team's pending sale than the thought that Evans might return to the Kings. The 23-year-old indicated in January that he wouldn't mind being traded, so it seems he's at least entertained the idea of playing for another team.
The Grizzlies inquired about the possibility of an Evans trade prior to the Rudy Gay deal, according to Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee, who added that the Lakers and Nuggets have had interest in the past. The Celtics made an ill-fated deadline-day run at trading for Evans. Unless Andre Iguodala exercises his early-termination option to get out of his contract with the Nuggets, none of those teams are set to have significant cap room this summer, so they appear to be unlikely destinations. When Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors looked at Evans' trade candidacy this season, he speculated that the Mavericks and Suns could become suitors, but the 6'6" guard would probably be far down the list of priorities for both teams, and especially for the Mavs.
Evans' scoring, rebounding and assists per game averages have declined each season since he won Rookie of the Year in 2010. Those numbers have fallen with commensurate decreases in minutes, however, and his per-36-minute averages have been fairly consistent the past three seasons. More telling is his PER, which is at 18.4 this season, exceeding his previous career high of 18.2 as a rookie. Indeed, Evans is having his best year as the advanced metrics tell it, setting new high marks in win shares per 48 minutes, true shooting percentage and effective field goal percentage. The latter two statistics are helped by his improved three-point shooting. Evans is making a third of his treys this season, and though that doesn't necessarily make him a proficient long-range threat, it's a vast improvement on his nightmarish 20.2% clip from beyond the arc last season.
Still, I think teams will be wary of overpaying a player that the woeful Kings have given less playing time in each successive year. Evans' dwindling minutes, at 31.8 per game this season, may speak as much to the problems in Sacramento as anything else, but they're a red flag nonetheless. The Kings have also moved him around, using him as a point guard and a small forward, but he seems best suited as a shooting guard, and perhaps playing out of position has held him back.
In any case, I don't think it's a slam dunk that Sacramento will tender the $6,927,157 qualifying offer required for them to be able to match offers for him this summer, so Evans might hit the unrestricted market. That could be a blessing in disguise for him, since other teams wouldn't have to worry about the Kings snatching him away, but it may also be a curse, since teams would know they needn't overinflate their offers in hopes that the Kings don't match.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Arn Tellem, Evans' agent, issue a decree that his client won't sign for the mid-level exception, which will have a starting salary of $5.15MM next season, but the mid-level may be their best option. That would allow Evans to sign with a contending team that could nurture his development and help him continue to improve his outside shooting touch in ways the Kings perhaps couldn't. That might set him up to make much more on his next deal, so if Tellem negotiates a player option at the back end of a mid-level contract that would allow Evans to hit the market again while he's relatively young, that sounds ideal for both player and team.
Pacific Rumors: Lakers, Kings, Clippers
If the Lakers fail to make the playoffs, they'll have no one but themselves to blame, opines Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. They sit a half-game up on the Jazz for eighth place in the Western Conference heading into tonight's action, with Utah playing host to the Hornets while the Lakers face a much tougher opponent in the Grizzlies. It's the same position both clubs found themselves in yesterday, when we asked Hoops Rumors readers which of the teams fighting for the last playoff spot would make it. A strong majority favored L.A. over Utah and the fading Mavericks. As the Lakers, through all their struggles, continue to deal with expectations, here's more from around the Pacific Division:
- Michael Lee of the Washington Post summarizes the state of affairs in the tug of war over the Kings, and lays out the case for both Sacramento and Seattle.
- Legal analyst Michael McCann believes there's little grounds for a threatened referendum on Sacramento's public funding plan for a new arena, tweets Aaron Bruski of NBCSports.com. The city would raise money for its contribution to the building through the lease of parking garages and land.
- Blake Griffin doesn't put much stock in a recent column by T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times suggesting immaturity is causing problems for the Clippers, and downplays the idea of chemistry problems on the team. Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com has the details.
Poll: How Will Gallinari Injury Affect Nuggets?
The Nuggets received some crushing news today when an MRI revealed that, as feared, Danilo Gallinari suffered a torn ACL in his left knee during last night's win against the Mavs, knocking him out for the season. The team's press release on its website doesn't indicate whether Gallinari will be ready for training camp in the fall, but the Nuggets probably aren't too concerned with next season just yet, with this year's playoffs set to start in two weeks.
Gallinari, who's on Denver's books for more than $32.5MM through 2016, is the team's second leading scorer this season, averaging 16.2 points per game, just slightly less than the 16.7 PPG Ty Lawson produces. There's no denying the 24-year-old Gallinari is a key cog for a Nuggets team currently in third place in the Western Conference. Still, there's reason to believe Denver, with all its depth, will do just fine without him.
Soon-to-be free agent Corey Brewer seems the most logical candidate to inherit Gallinari's minutes. A couple weeks ago, Nuggets coach George Karl told Sam Amick of USA Today that he wanted to give Brewer more time at the end of games, but was hesitant to do so because of the money the team owes to Gallinari and Andre Iguodala.
"I have no problem finishing any way I think I can win," Karl said. "Sometimes that ruffles the feathers a little bit of my players. But Corey Brewer is the guy who I think has played well enough to finish a lot of games. I don't do it all the time, and when I don't do it I think it's unfair to Corey, because even though Iguodala and Gallo are the high-paid dudes, sometimes Corey is the better basketball player. It's not right that we always give it to the guy who gets paid the most money. There should not be an entitlement that because you get paid the most money, that you should finish every game. But if you don't do it, then the agents are going to call and the players are going to mope and so you negotiate that. It's a compromise as a coach."
While the Heat were running off their 27-game winning streak, the Nuggets had a lengthy winning streak of their own that lasted 15 games. Gallinari played in 13 of them, but his performance was subpar. He averaged just 12.7 PPG, and his field-goal shooting (37.8%) was well below his season mark of 41.8%. Gallinari is renowned as a three-point sharpshooter, but his 37.3% accuracy from behind the arc this year is less than the 40.2% displayed by Wilson Chandler, another candidate to see increased minutes with Gallinari out.
There were questions about whether Denver's up-tempo attack would hold up in the playoffs even before the Gallinari injury, and the doubts are no less apparent today. Still, it's worth wondering if the Nuggets' chances of winning the title are really any worse off than they were yesterday. Let us know your thoughts with either a vote, a comment, or both.
How Will Gallinari Injury Affect Nuggets?
-
They weren't going to win the title either way. 57% (204)
-
They had a shot to win the title before the injury, but now they don't. 22% (77)
-
They had a shot to win the title before the injury, and they still do. 22% (77)
Total votes: 358