Celtics Re-Sign White; Randolph Expected Back
10:11am: White tells Blakely he signed a second 10-day contract with the Celtics this morning. Randolph said he hasn't re-upped yet, but is optimistic about his chances (Twitter links).
10:04am: D.J. White's 10-day contract with the Celtics expired last night, and Shavlik Randolph's is over after tonight, but the team is expected to announce soon that they're re-signing both of them, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. Boston brought the big men aboard along with guard Terrence Williams shortly after the trade deadline to bolster an injury-depleted roster.
White and Randolph have occupied the final two spots on Boston's 15-man roster. It's not clear whether White and Shavlik will be signed through the rest of the season or receive a second set of 10-day deals. After his first 10-day contract with the Celtics expired, Williams received a deal that runs through the season and includes a non-guaranteed second year in 2013/14.
Neither White nor Randolph has seen much time on the floor for Boston. White has appeared in just one game so far, totaling four minutes, while Randolph has yet to see game action. Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com wrote yesterday that "all indications" were that White would be back with the team, since he accompanied them on their flight to Oklahoma City for today's game. Randolph is with the team as well, as Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe noted, though he'd be eligible to play against the Thunder either way, since his contract runs a day longer than White's.
Celtics Among 3 Teams Interested In Gigi Datome
Italian small forward Luigi "Gigi" Datome has drawn interest from the Celtics, who are among three NBA teams reportedly intrigued by the 25-year-old, according to a report from the Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport passed along by Sportando's Emiliano Carchia. Datome is playing in his native Italy with Virtus Roma this season, averaging 17.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game to go with 44.3% three-point shooting over 22 contests this season.
Datome's isn't in play immediately, since he's still under contract with Virtus Roma, but that deal expires in the offseason. It's unclear how much Datome will be able to command financially, but if a bidding war ensues, the Celtics would be somewhat handicapped. Boston will likely be over the cap this summer, meaning the team couldn't exceed the mid-level exception to bring him or anyone else aboard. The first-year salary is set at $5.15MM for next year's full mid-level.
As a 21-year-old in 2009, Datome went undrafted by NBA clubs, though it appears his game has evolved since then. As witnessed by the Knicks' signing of 35-year-old Pablo Prigioni this summer, overseas prospects don't have to be young to draw attention. Datome recently switched agencies, moving from Side by Side to Sigma Sports.
Celtics Links: White, Bobcats, Role Players
The Heat are garnering plenty of attention for their 17-game win streak, but the second-hottest team in the East is the other team that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last season. The Celtics have won five in a row, and beat the Hawks last night to pull into a tie with Atlanta for this year's sixth seed. Boston is only a game and a half behind the Nets for the fourth seed and home-court advantage in the first round, so while we wait to find out how far the C's can climb, here's the latest on the team:
- D.J. White traveled with the Celtics to Oklahoma City in advance of tomorrow's matchup, and "all indications" are that White will get another contract from the Celtics once his 10-day deal expires tonight, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com writes.
- Should he stay, he'll be particularly motivated for Boston's next two games, against the Thunder and Bobcats, two teams with which White used to play. White was taken aback when the Bobcats didn't pursue him when he came back from China this year, Forsberg notes in the same piece.
- Celtics basketball president Danny Ainge may be reluctant to deal his stars, but one of those marquee talents believes he's excelled at finding role players, observes Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. "I think the guys that Danny’s brought in are aggressive guys," Kevin Garnett said. "They fit the character of our team. They’re gutty guys, guys that are willing to work and get down. It’s guys who are willing to work, willing to listen, willing to be coached. And they’ve bought in. We don’t have any distractions in here. Everybody knows what the goal is."
Odds & Ends: Oden, Mavs, Rose, HGH, Kings
Greg Oden and the Cavs appeared to engage in heavy flirtation last night, as the former No. 1 overall pick sat in one of owner Dan Gilbert's courtside seats at the Cavs-Grizzlies game. While Oden regards Cleveland as one of his favored destinations for a return to the league, the Cavs haven't made him an offer, agent Mike Conley Sr. tells Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida (Twitter link). Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld believes the big man will eventually sign with the Heat, based on multiple sources who insist Miami will be his choice, in spite of the ability other teams have to offer him more money and a longer contract (Twitter links). Oden isn't expected to sign with any team until the summer, so we'll likely be hearing plenty more about him in the coming months. In the meantime, here's more from around the league:
- Coach Rick Carlisle expects the Mavs will look at players to fill the roster spot vacated today when the team waived Dominique Jones, tweets Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com.
- Bulls GM Gar Forman says there's no rift between Derrick Rose and the team's front office over the timing of the former MVP's return from injury, notes Fred Mitchell of the Chicago Tribune.
- Henry Abbott of ESPN.com reported yesterday that the NBA and the players union were nearing an agreement that would subject players to blood tests for human growth hormone as soon as next season, but Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News hears no deal is close.
- Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com interprets David Stern's call for Sacramento bidders to pour more money into their efforts to buy the Kings as a sign that the commissioner isn't as closely aligned with the city as it might have otherwise appeared.
- Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic caught up with Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, who spoke at length about his push to keep the Kings in town.
- For draft prospects on college teams that might not make it to the NCAA tournament, the week ahead will be their final opportunity to make an impression before the combine. Chad Ford of ESPN.com, in an Insider piece, takes a look at five prospects who could be seeing their last collegiate action.
Recent Non-Guaranteed Multi-Year Deals
This time of year, plenty of players are signing 10-day contracts, as witnessed by the 10 guys currently on one of those short-term deals. Usually someone on a 10-day contract is an end-of-the-bench player, but occasionally teams have larger plans for these kinds of pickups. That can create competition for their services, and instead of a 10-day, sometimes teams will give a player a deal for the rest of the season with a non-guaranteed year or two tacked on.
But, based on last year's results, teams almost always divest themselves of these players before any of the non-guaranteed years begin. Of the 11 players who, after the trade deadline last season, signed contracts that covered the rest of 2011/12 and included additional seasons that weren't fully guaranteed, only Donald Sloan made it past training camp this year. Five of them were included in trades and waived after that. All of the deals were for the minimum. Here's the complete list:
- April 25th: Spurs sign Derrick Byars through 2012/13: San Antonio waived him in August.
- April 21st: Cavaliers sign D.J. Kennedy through 2012/13: The Cavs traded Kennedy to the Grizzlies in July, who waived him, re-signed him, and waived him again before training camp was over.
- April 20th: Hornets sign Jerome Dyson through 2013/14: New Orleans traded him to the Suns in July as part of the Robin Lopez deal, and Phoenix waived him in August.
- April 20th: Knicks sign Dan Gadzuric through 2012/13: New York traded him to the Blazers in July as part of the Raymond Felton deal, and Portland waived him shortly thereafter.
- April 20th: Celtics sign Sean Williams through 2012/13: Boston traded him to the Rockets in July as part of the Courtney Lee deal, and Houston waived him in August.
- April 18th: Hornets sign Darryl Watkins through 2013/14: New Orleans traded him to the Sixers in July as part of the Jarrett Jack deal, and Philadelphia waived him shortly thereafter.
- April 14th: Bobcats sign Jamario Moon through 2012/13: Charlotte waived him in July.
- April 12th: Rockets sign Diamon Simpson to a minimum-salary contract through 2012/13: Houston waived him in September.
- March 27th: Rockets sign Courtney Fortson through 2012/13: Despite picking up its team option for this season, Houston waived him in September.
- March 17th: Cavaliers sign Manny Harris through 2012/13: Cleveland waived him in July.
- March 16th: Cavaliers sign Donald Sloan through 2012/13: Sloan made the team out of camp, but Cleveland waived him on Christmas, a couple weeks before his contract would have become guaranteed for the rest of this season.
Mavericks Waive Dominique Jones
2:30pm: Jones' unwillingness to accept a D-League assignment prompted the Mavs to cut ties, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports.
1:53pm: Dallas has waived former first-round pick Dominique Jones, tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. Since the move comes after March 1st, the guard will be ineligible to play for another team in the postseason this year should someone sign him or claim him off waivers. The Mavs tried to trade him at multiple points earlier this season, but never found an offer they liked.
Jones is making a guaranteed $1.277MM in the third season of his rookie-scale contract, signed after the Mavs drafted him with the 25th overall pick in 2010. In October, the team declined its $2.3MM option for next season, and though GM Donnie Nelson didn't rule out re-signing him in the summer, it appeared to signal an end to the South Florida product's tenure in Dallas. Jones has posted 4.0 points and 2.9 assists this season, career-high marks for a player who has seen little playing time. He's averaging 11.7 minutes per contest this year, but has only appeared in five games since New Year's Day.
The Mavs had been carrying a full 15-man roster, so the move gives them the flexibility to sign someone else, perhaps on a 10-day deal. Dallas is in 11th place in the Western Conference but still has a reasonable shot to make the postseason, since the team is just three and a half games back of the Jazz for the eighth playoff spot.
Stein’s Latest: Josh Smith, Bucks, Mavs, Rockets
As rumors fly long past the NBA's trade deadline, Marc Stein of ESPN.com checks in with a Weekend Dime that's heavy on items about Josh Smith, as well as plenty of news about the Rockets. There's even a link between Smith and Houston, so let's dig in.
- The Bucks came closest to acquiring Smith at the deadline, as a source tells Stein that Atlanta's talks with the Sixers were never as serious as they were with Milwaukee.
- Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported earlier today that the Hawks nearly sent Smith to the Celtics, but Stein hears Atlanta's brass shared the concerns of many NBA teams that C's basketball president Danny Ainge would get cold feet about dealing one of his stars. Paul Pierce would have been sent to the Mavs in the rumored Smith-to-Boston trade.
- The Hawks preferred to send Smith to the Western Conference, but were rebuffed by the Mavs, who refused to add a draft pick to a package that already included Vince Carter, Chris Kaman, Jae Crowder, Brandan Wright and Dahntay Jones. Many of those Mavericks were also part of the proposed three-way trade with the Celtics.
- If the Rockets don't land top target Dwight Howard this summer, they'll turn their attention to Smith and Andrew Bynum next, sources tell Stein.
- Aaron Brooks forfeited just under $3.4MM in his buyout from the Kings, Stein hears. Brooks was set to make $3.396MM next season on a player option, so presumably the buyout simply entailed him declining that option.
- I took a look in January at all the former Rockets the team still has on the payroll, a list that's since grown even longer, as Stein notes. Houston has waived or bought out 10 players this season, all of whom are still on the team's cap.
- Stein catches up with Thomas Robinson, who was surprised when the Kings drafted him last year and "shocked" when they traded him to the Rockets at the deadline.
- There's a schism in thought around the league about whether Monta Ellis is leaning toward staying with the Bucks next season or exercising his early-termination option to hit free agency this summer.
- Samuel Dalembert is hitting free agency no matter what, but echoing his report before the trade deadline that Milwaukee was no longer trying to move Dalembert, Stein says the Bucks have some interest in re-signing the Haitian center.
Warriors Rumors: Harden, Free Agents, Ellis, Lin
The commissioner is in attendance at Golden State's game against the Rockets tonight, but David Stern's comments about the fate of the Kings overshadowed talk of the other team in Northern California. Nonetheless, there's plenty of Warriors-related news this evening, as we share here:
- Sources told Grantland's Bill Simmons that the Thunder and Warriors talked about a James Harden deal last year, but Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group hears differently, tweeting that he was told the rumor wasn't legitimate.
- The Warriors were considering Maalik Wayns, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Josh Childress, Dominic McGuire, Chris Wright (the forward from Dayton, not the guard from Georgetown) and Mickell Gladness before they decided to sign Malcolm Thomas to a 10-day contract, reports Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. Some of those names could conceivably resurface if the W's don't keep Thomas around, though Wayns signed a 10-day deal with the Clippers.
- Monta Ellis has benefited from the trade that sent him from the Warriors to the Bucks a year ago, as Thompson writes, while fellow Bay Area News Group scribe Tim Kawakami ponders what might have happened if the Warriors had held on to Ellis and Jeremy Lin.
Stern: Sacramento Bidders Must Increase Offer
10:28pm: Mark Mastrov is confident his offer will be ready in time to present to NBA owners, as the Bee's Ailene Voisin tweets. "It's early," Mastrov said. "We are working on a very aggressive bid."
9:39pm: Stern said "there is a substantial variance" between the Mastrov and Hansen offers, as Bizjak, Dale Kasler and Ryan Lillis of the Bee note. The report also clarifies that a group of NBA owners will meet to see where bids stand on April 3rd, a few weeks before the April 18th Board of Governors meeting that's expected to decide the outcome of the tug-of-war over the Kings.
9:21pm: There might be other bids that could keep the Kings in Sacramento if the Mastrov-fronted effort falls through, according to Bizjak. Stern said he's spoken with investors other than Mastrov and Ron Burkle, who's a secondary partner in Mastrov's effort, as well as current Kings minority owner John Kehriotis, who's preparing a backup bid for the team (Twitter links).
8:36pm: Commissioner David Stern told reporters in Oakland tonight that the Mark Mastrov-led bid to keep the Kings in Sacramento must come up with more money in order to keep the team in town, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Stern is optimistic the bid will increase, but as of now it's not comparable to the package Chris Hansen and his team of investors has put together to move the team to Seattle (Twitter link).
The Seattle group has an agreement with the Maloof family, which owns the Kings, to commit $341MM for a controlling 65% stake in the team. Mastrov and company have come in with a figure slightly lower than that, though there are mitigating factors, since a Sacramento ownership group wouldn't have to repay a $75MM loan to the city, as anyone who moves the team would have to do.
The NBA's Board of Governors is expected to decide between the competing offers at a meeting in April. Yet unless Mastrov and his partners kick in more money, it might not even get that far, as Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee notes that Stern said the bid must increase to "get to the state of consideration" (Twitter link).
Sixers Notes: Jefferson, Hawes, Turner, Collins
The Sixers ran up against a buzzsaw tonight, falling to the Heat as Miami ran its winning streak to 17. Philadelphia sits eight games out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and even if the team was somehow able to climb into that position, it would likely have to overcome the Heat in the first round. Either way, it looks like the Sixers will soon be turning their attention to the offseason, and there are already a few rumblings about the summer, as we detail here along with other news from Philly:
- A source tells Tom Moore of Phillyburbs.com that the Sixers discussed sending Spencer Hawes, Evan Turner and another player to make the salaries match to the Jazz for Al Jefferson before the trade deadline, though a deal never became close. Moore also echoes deadline chatter about another proposed deal that would have sent Hawes and Turner to the Hawks for Josh Smith.
- Hawes isn't bothered by trade talk, as he tells Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida, bringing up the Hawks rumor as well as one that had involved the Wolves (Sulia link). The center believes he'll be back in Philadelphia for the final season of his deal next year, but it appears he wouldn't be too surprised if he's traded.
- Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News tries to answer six key questions about the Sixers as they near an offseason he believes could be the team's biggest in more than a decade.
- Aside from Jrue Holiday and probably Thaddeus Young, no player on the Sixers roster is untouchable, Cooney writes, calling Evan Turner "the most intriguing movable piece they have."
- Doug Collins would like to coach Team USA, but as an assistant instead of the head man, Tomasson reports. Collins is lobbying instead for Doc Rivers or Gregg Popovich to be selected as head coach.