Warriors Waive T.J. Ford
The Warriors have waived point guard T.J. Ford, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Ford, who had been playing for the Spurs, announced his retirement this week and was included for financial reasons in the deal that sent Richard Jefferson to the Warriors and Stephen Jackson to the Spurs.
Ford was on a one-year minimum-salary contract for $1,223,166. He averaged 3.6 points and 3.2 assists in 13.6 minutes as a backup for San Antonio this season. In his eight-year career, he averaged 11.2 PPG and 5.8 APG before injuries drove him to call it quits just shy of his 29th birthday.
Southwest Rumors: Fisher, Mills, Jackson
Four of the five Southwest Division teams are in action tonight, including the Mavs and first-place Spurs, who meet in Dallas. Here's a quick check around the division:
- Though reports suggest Houston will buy out Derek Fisher, coach Kevin McHale's comments, as noted by Sean Deveney of The Sporting News, seem to suggest he'd like to see the point guard in uniform for the team tonight. Fisher has yet to report to the Rockets.
- Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld tweets that the Spurs would go after Fisher if his rumored buyout takes place, given the team's need at point guard in the wake of T.J. Ford's sudden retirement this week.
- Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports via Twitter that the Rockets are pursuing former Blazers guard Patrick Mills, who has received FIBA clearance to play in the U.S. after signing with a Chinese team earlier this year. That's further suggestion that the Rockets will let Fisher go, as they also signed guard Courtney Fortson today.
- Jason Terry believes San Antonio's trade of Richard Jefferson for Stephen Jackson was a "no brainer," reports Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas/Fort Worth. Jackson, scheduled to make his debut tonight according to a tweet from Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com, gives them scoring and toughness, Terry says.
Cavs Waive Kapono, Sign Harris
The Cavs have waived forward Jason Kapono and signed guard Manny Harris, the Associated Press confirms. The moves had been anticipated last night.
Harris returns to the team after signing a pair of 10-day contracts earlier this year. His contract, likely for the minimum salary, will be guaranteed for the rest of the season. Harris played 54 games with the Cavs last year and with the team in training camp before this season began, but was cut after suffering a bizarre freezer burn injury at Nike facilities in Oregon. The 6'5", 185-pound University of Michigan product has averaged 5.8 points, 1.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds in two seasons.
Kapono, acquired in the deal that sent Ramon Sessions to the Lakers, is a three-point specialist who's fallen on hard times. A career 43.4% three-point shooter, his long-distance accuracy has slipped to 25.7% over the last two seasons.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first tweeted last night that Kapono would likely be waived. Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal reported via Twitter that Harris would replace him. Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer added detail.
Odds & Ends: Buyouts, Thunder, Williams, Camby
A few teams got a first look at their new acquisitions tonight, while others still await players to arrive and take physicals in their new cities. It's a league that's still in flux less than 36 hours after the trade deadline. Let's take a look at what's going on as everyone gets settled:
- Marquis Daniels of the Celtics and Brian Cook of the Wizards are buyout candidates, says agent Mark Bartelstein via Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports. (Twitter link)
- The Thunder have assigned forward Ryan Reid to the Tulsa 66ers of the D-League, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando, via Twitter. Oklahoma City signed the undrafted 25-year-old forward to a partially guaranteed two-year contract before the season, but he's only appeared in five games so far, scoring a total of eight points in 17 minutes. The 6'8", 232-pound Reid played 48 games with Tulsa last year, averaging 8.5 points and 5.8 rebounds while posting a 14.7 PER.
- According to Alex Raskin of HoopsWorld, Nets GM Billy King is confident his team can re-sign Deron Williams this summer, even though the point guard said today he will not opt in to the final season of his deal, a la Dwight Howard.
- Marcus Camby, who sees himself playing four more years, wants to finish his career with the Rockets, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
- Tommy Dee of Sheridan Hoops takes a look at the NBA prospects of Cincinnati's Yancy Gates.
- ESPN's Chad Ford believes NCAA tournament hero C.J. McCollum of Lehigh is a "serious draft sleeper" (Twitter link). Ford reported a few weeks ago that scouts had McCollum pegged as a late first-round or early second-round selection (Insider only).
- J.A. Adande of ESPN looks at what we've learned from the trade deadline. The most significant takeaway is that it pays to have a Plan B, Adande says.
Warriors Rumors: Ellis, Bogut, Curry
Just as the Magic and Nets played together tonight in the wake of their non-trade, the Bucks and Warriors got together in Oakland tonight a few days after their deal. Here's the latest from Golden State:
- Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports looks at how the trade may pay off for the Warriors.
- Warriors owner Joe Lacob expressed great regard for Monta Ellis, saying that it was "incredibly difficult" to trade him, but that he would have dealt either Ellis or Stephen Curry to move the franchise forward, according to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. Ellis received plenty of love from the Golden State crowd, too, tweets Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group.
- Curry's balky ankle will keep him out either a month or for the rest of the season, judging Lacob's comments to Simmons about the matter. “We’re going to continue to look at all of the doctors’ reports and get as much information as we can, but no one can really say for sure why this keeps occurring," Lacob said. "We need to know, though. We’ll get another opinion if we have to. If it requires shutting him down, then we’ll do it. If it doesn’t, he’ll be back playing in a month. It’s very important that he’s healthy, and we’re not going to risk further injury.”
- Andrew Bogut was ready to leave Milwaukee, telling Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com that he and the Bucks experienced a mutual divorce. (Twitter link)
Magic Notes: Howard, Agent, Deadline
It would seem the schedule makers were plugged into the rumor mill when they set up tonight's Magic-Nets game in Orlando for a day after the trade deadline. The Nets were leading candidates to engage in a Dwight Howard deal with the Magic, but instead had to wonder what might have been as they watched D12 put up a relatively tame 18-point, six-rebound effort in an 86-70 Orlando win. Here's what's happening in the Magic Kingdom a day after a most anticipated trade deadline:
- The kinship between Howard and Deron Williams was not compelling enough to draw the big man away from his video game in time for dinner with the Nets point guard, reports Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, via Twitter. Colin Stephenson of the Newark Star Ledger points out that the two did exchange texts. (Twitter link)
- Howard confirmed what manager Kevin Samples said yesterday, and is not firing agent Dan Fegan, Bondy also tweeted. There was speculation that Fegan was influencing Howard not to opt in to the final year of the deal, since Fegan, who didn't negotiate Howard's existing contract, wouldn't get a cut. (Twitter links)
- Orlando fans were forgiving of Howard for his indecisiveness, giving him a "booming ovation" at the start of tonight's game, according to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.
- The Magic top Washington Post writer Michael Lee's list of deadline winners for the deal they didn't make, with the Nets as the top loser.
Reaction To Clippers, Nuggets, Wizards Deal
There were several components to yesterday's three-team deal between the Clippers, Nuggets and Wizards, but each team seems pleased with the centerpieces of the swap.
The Clippers are welcoming Nick Young with open arms as they plan to slide him into the starting shooting guard spot after last night's embarrassing loss to a Suns team that was without Steve Nash and Grant Hill. GM Neil Olshey had been working on the deal for 10 days but didn't expect it to happen, as he told Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld.
“I was actually surprised," Olshey said. "I didn’t think there was any way we would be able to acquire a player like Nick Young for a future second round pick.”
To be precise, the Clippers sent Brian Cook to Washington as well as a 2015 second-rounder.
One part of the deal amounted to an exchange of big men, with Nene going to Washington and JaVale McGee heading to Denver. Both sides were apparently glad to get rid of them, according to Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix (All Twitter links).
Mannix says several Nuggets were upset about Nene's contract negotiations, which dragged on past the start of the truncated training camp this year, and felt they contributed to what's been an off year for him so far. Yesterday, Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post also cited Nene's lack of readiness for the season. After signing a five-year, $65MM deal, injuries limited Nene to playing in just 28 of Denver's 43 games prior to the trade. He averaged 13.4 points and 7.4 rebounds, numbers that were fairly similar to last year's 14.5 PPG and 7.6 RPG, but his 16.8 PER was significantly lower than the 20.4 he posted in 2010/11. Mannix also heard that the move was in part prompted by the play of rookie Kenneth Faried, who has taken advantage of the absense of Nene and others and averaged 10.6 PPG and 8.1 RPG in March.
The Wizards, meanwhile, were "thrilled" to get rid of McGee, Mannix notes, before having to worry about re-signing the restricted free agent in the summer. McGee reportedly said he plans to ask for $14MM a year.
Spurs Close To Signing Patrick Mills
The Spurs are finalizing a contract with former Blazers guard Patrick Mills, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated tweets that it will be a two-year deal.
Amick adds via Twitter that the deal will include a player option in the second year, worth about $1MM. The Blazers renounced Mills' rights this morning, the team confirmed via Twitter.
According to a tweet from Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com, the Pistons also wanted to sign Mills. The Rockets were interested in the guard, too, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reported earlier today. The Spurs were also reportedly interested in Derek Fisher, whom the Rockets are rumored to be buying out. San Antonio was searching for a point guard after the abrupt retirement of T.J. Ford this week, who was subsequently shipped to Golden State for financial reasons in the Stephen Jackson-Richard Jefferson deal. The Warriors have waived Ford, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
Mills, a 2009 second-round pick out of St. Mary's College, averaged 5.1 points and 1.5 assists in two seasons as a backup in Portland. He signed with a Chinese team earlier this season, but has received FIBA clearance to join an NBA team.
Cavs To Waive Jason Kapono, Sign Manny Harris
9:01pm: Cleveland is expected to sign Manny Harris to replace Kapono on the roster, tweets Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. The team had signed Harris to a pair of 10-day deals earlier this year, so his latest contract will be for the rest of the season. With signing of Donald Sloan earlier today, Harris would put the Cavs roster back at 15 players.
7:12pm: The Cavs plan to waive small forward Jason Kapono, whom they acquired from the Lakers via trade yesterday, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer adds detail in a story.
Kapono is on a one-year minimum-salary deal, making $1,223,166. He counts for $854,389 against the cap, which the Cavs will still be on the hook for unless someone puts in a claim for him. Their post-trade payroll of $70.5MM is well over the cap, but because $18MM of that is a cap hold for the expired Wally Szczerbiak, they are nowhere near the luxury tax threshold.
The 6'8", 213-pound Kapono's specialty has been the three-point shot, having made 43.4% of his long-range attempts throughout his nine-year career. This year, though, the 30-year-old's three-point percentage is only 29.6% in spot duty for the Lakers. He averaged 2.0 points in 10 minutes a game for L.A.
Latest On Rumored Lakers, Wolves, Blazers Deal
1:20am: Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com reports another variation on the proposed three-team swap, saying that the Timberwolves may send Luke Ridnour to the Blazers. According to McMenamin, the Blazers would still receive a first-round pick from the Lakers in the deal, which doesn't make sense to me — I'd think giving up Beasley and Ridnour would earn the T-Wolves that pick.
THURSDAY, 1:06am: A source tells John Canzano of The Oregonian that the deal should be completed Thursday morning (Twitter link).