Southwest Notes: Duncan, Morey, Iguodala, Zion, McClure
While perhaps not as noteworthy as some of the more marquee free agent news we’ve seen this summer in terms of on-the-court impact, Marc Stein of The New York Times opines that the return of all-time-great Tim Duncan to the Spurs as a full-time assistant coach under legendary head coach Gregg Popovich is a gigantic story all the same.
As Stein notes, Duncan has been a frequent visitor at the Spurs’ practice facility throughout his retirement, mentoring/coaching players along the way, but this had always been done outside of the limelight, a setting in which Duncan prefers. So his abrupt return to the court for an 82-game season filled with continual travel and other headaches is a bit surprising, to say the least.
One narrative as to why Duncan accepted a position on Pop’s staff despite his disposition is simply need. Duncan reportedly knew that his old coach was struggling to fill the last open spot on his bench staff after departures by longtime Spurs’ assistants Ime Udoka and Ettore Messina, and his loyalty dictated he offer his services.
Here are some more stories from around the Southwest Division:
- As Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle tweets, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said on Friday that while Houston is not yet done adding to their 2019/20 roster, the team is much more likely to make further additions by trade rather than via free agency.
- According to Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian, it’s not a certainty that trade offers for Grizzlies veteran swingman Andre Iguodala will improve as time goes on, and Herrington remains skeptical that Iguodala will play a meaningful role for the Grizzlies at any point.
- Pelicans president of basketball operations David Griffin tells Jeff Duncan of The Athletic that rookie phenom Zion Williamson is still getting taller and that the team is more worried about making sure the 19-year-old is eating well and in good condition than what his playing weight will be.
- The Grizzlies have hired Pacers player development coach David McClure as an assistant for new head coach Taylor Jenkins’ staff in Memphis, reports J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star. McClure also spent two seasons in San Antonio before joining the Pacers back in 2015.
Mavs Sign Antonius Cleveland To Two-Way Deal
JULY 25: The signing of Cleveland is now official, the Mavs announced today in a press release.
JULY 24: After recently waiving two-way player Kostas Antetokounmpo, the Mavericks have signed shooting guard Antonius Cleveland to fill the vacant two-way spot left behind by Antetokounmpo’s departure, per Tim Cato of The Athletic. This will be Cleveland’s second stint with Dallas as a two-way player.
Cleveland last played in the NBA during the 2017/18 season with both the Mavs (two-way) and Hawks (15-man roster). He was waived by Atlanta last summer as a cap casualty when the Hawks needed the cap space to take on the contract of Carmelo Anthony. He was claimed by the Bulls but waived before the 2018/19 season began.
Last season, Cleveland played for the G League’s Santa Cruz Warriors, where he averaged 11.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 26.5 minutes per contest.
Cleveland, 25, will join guard Daryl Macon as the Mavericks’ two-way players for the 2019/20 season. One of the spots was originally thought to be earmarked for rookie Josh Reaves, but he ended up agreeing to sign an Exhibit 10 contract instead.
Greg Monroe To Play In Germany
JULY 25: Monroe has officially signed with Bayern Munich, the team confirmed today in a press release.
JULY 24: Earlier this afternoon, FC Bayern Munich Basketball teased a “big” signing announcement for tomorrow, and Emiliano Carchia of Sportando is now reporting that the team is planning to announce the signing of NBA veteran big man Greg Monroe.
Monroe, 29, appears to be prioritizing playing time and perhaps financial gain with the move to Europe, which makes sense given the nine-year veteran’s recent struggles to carve out a niche in the ever-growing small ball atmosphere of today’s NBA.
The seventh overall pick in the 2010 draft, Monroe was named NBA All-Rookie Second Team for his efforts during the 2010/11 season. For his career, he holds averages of 13.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG, and 2.1 APG, but has become a journeyman of sorts over the past couple of seasons.
Monroe will join fellow former first-round pick Josh Huestis on Bayern Munich’s 2019/20 roster, where the club will look to three-peat as Basketball Bundesliga champions this upcoming season.
Johnathan Motley Signs Two-Way Deal With Clippers
After declining to issue him a qualifying offer last month, the Clippers have decided to bring back big man Johnathan Motley on another two-way contract, reports Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
Motley spent the entirety of last season on a two-way contract with the Clippers after being acquired in an offseason trade from Dallas, but spent most of his time with the team’s G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, where he was named All-NBAGL Second Team.
In 22 games with the Clippers, Motley averaged a respectable 4.6 PPG and 2.3 RPG while playing 7.1 minutes per contest. As a rookie, he actually started the last four games of the season for the Mavs, averaging 16.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in those four starts.
The 24-year-old Baylor product will join rookie Amir Coffey as the Clippers’ two-way players for the 2019/20 season, meaning last season’s G League Rookie of the Year Angel Delgado appears to be the odd man out barring a promotion to a standard contract on the 15-man roster.
Pacific Notes: Kerr/Davis, Rubio, Harding, Vogel
As if the Pacific Division wasn’t already exciting enough after a summer that saw Kevin Durant leave and Anthony Davis, Paul George, and 2019 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard arrive to join LeBron James and Stephen Curry, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr added some fuel to the divisional fire today when he criticized Davis’ public trade demand out of New Orleans.
Appearing on NBC Sports’ Warriors Insider Podcast (h/t to ESPN), Kerr said there is a troubling trend in the NBA right now wherein players who are healthy and still have a couple of years left on their deal (e.g. Davis) publicly request a trade. Kerr said that situations like that are both a “real problem” and “bad for the league.”
“I’m talking more about the Anthony Davis situation… where a guy is perfectly healthy and has a couple years left on his deal and says, ‘I want to leave.’ That’s a real problem that the league has to address and that the players have to be careful with.”
“When you sign on that dotted line, you owe your effort and your play to that team, to that city, to the fans… (and) if you sign the contract, then you should be bound to that contract… (Now) If you come to an agreement with the team that, ‘Hey, it’s probably best for us to part ways,’ that’s one thing, (b)ut the Davis stuff was really kind of groundbreaking — and hopefully not a trend, because it’s bad for the league.”
There’s more out of the Pacific Division this evening:
- The Suns have been searching for a point guard to help lead them back up from the bottom of the Western Conference standings for years now, and the three qualities that veteran Ricky Rubio possesses that makes Phoenix think he’s the guy are playmaking, defense, and leadership, writes Cody Cunningham of Suns.com.
- Lindsey Harding, recently hired as an assistant coach for the Kings under head coach Luke Walton, says that fear of the unknown is more of a factor than a lack of respect for women coaches when it comes to the absence of a female head coach in the NBA today (per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN).
- New Lakers head coach Frank Vogel plans to incorporate a similar style of play incorporated by Walton, telling Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated that he will continue preaching pace, attacking the basket, and shooting a lot of free throws. But more importantly, Vogel’s goal will be to put shooters at all four positions around James, including center, a la Brook Lopez surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee.
Raptors Sign Oshae Brissett To Exhibit 10 Deal
JULY 23: The signing is official, the team confirmed in an email.
JULY 20: The Raptors have signed undrafted rookie forward Oshae Brissett, a Toronto native, to an Exhibit 10 deal, reports Blake Murphy of The Athletic. Brissett attended a pre-draft workout with the defending champions back on June 11 before playing with the Clippers during summer league.
Brissett, 21, played two seasons at Syracuse before forgoing his remaining NCAA eligibility and entering the 2019 NBA Draft. While at Syracuse, the 6’8″ Canadian averaged 13.7 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 1.3 RPG. Brissett’s numbers fell off a little as a sophomore, but he was named to the ACC All-Freshman team alongside fellow rookie and No. 4 overall pick De’Andre Hunter in 2018.
Brissett is the second undrafted free agent to reach a deal with the Raptors this summer after former Ole Miss guard Terence Davis signed a two-year contract earlier this month. However, Brissett appears less likely than Davis to make the 15-man roster and will probably end up as an affiliate player for the Raptors 905.
Central Notes: Horst, Pistons, Kornet, Holidays
Eric Nehm of The Athletic recently sat down with the Bucks’ award-winning GM Jon Horst to discuss the team’s free agency this summer. Here are a few noteworthy passages from Horst’s interview.
Regarding the team’s ability to bring back Khris Middleton on a five-year deal:
“Khris was always a focus… He’s our second superstar, our second star. He’s an All-Star. He’s been one of our best players for a long period of time here… Khris was a target obviously and he got a contract that represents that and we think it’s a great contract because we got our second All-Star locked up for the next five years.”
“When we got Brook last offseason, we understood, at some level, how important he was going to be to us… (and) we also understood if he’s as good as we think he’s going to be, it’s going to present a lot of challenges.”
“So, we spent the entire year trying to prepare for that… Just different things we did throughout the year were in preparation to position ourselves to either be prepared to keep Brook, be in a position to keep Brook or be prepared to react if we couldn’t… I don’t know if a lot of people saw it coming, maybe after the Tony Snell deal. Then, maybe they were like, ‘Okay, this is how they’re going to try to do it.’ But before that, I don’t think people saw the moves we lined up to position ourselves to hopefully keep Brook and I’m very thankful we were able to.”
Regarding the decision to trade RFA Malcolm Brogdon to Indiana and whether the luxury tax was a factor in that decision:
“I think there’s a lot that goes into restricted free agency. It’s a monster. Malcolm is very, very important and we knew how important he was to our team. It will be hard to replace him. I think we’ve done the best that we can and we’ll continue to work in ways to be creative and fill that gap.”
“I would say the luxury tax was only part of the consideration for not matching or not being willing to pay Malcolm the market that he was able to get from Indiana. Whether or not he had that market from anywhere else besides Indiana, I don’t know. The decision on Malcolm was much more about our internal evaluations, the roster fit, the ability to be flexible and have options going forward and just building a team that, as I always say, can sustain success over a long period.”
- Horst confirmed in the above interview that the Bucks were not able to create a traded player exception when they traded Brogdon to Indiana, as the signing of George Hill with cap space occurred after the trade, and teams lose their exceptions (other than the Room MLE) when they go under the cap.
- Taking a look at what each player’s role may be for the Pistons’ during the 2019/20 season, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com opines that there are five guys locked in to being sure-fire rotation pieces – Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard, and Derrick Rose, and three who will almost certainly join that group – Markieff Morris, Tony Snell, and Bruce Brown.
- The Bulls are hoping that the three-point shooting ability of free-agent addition, big man Luke Kornet, will be a nice complement next to starter Wendell Carter Jr. and fellow reserve, rookie Daniel Gafford, writes Sam Smith of Bulls.com.
- Pacers’ new addition Justin Holiday is excited about the prospect of playing with his baby brother, reserve point guard Aaron Holiday, reports Scott Agness of The Athletic. “It was the best situation I had at this time,” Justin said. “(T)he Pacers obviously being a contender every year and going to the playoffs, and then also them having my brother was something that was very, very enticing for me. To be able to be a part of that culture and play with my brother, I think it made it pretty simple where I needed to go.”
Contract Details: Jazz, MCW, Muscala, Robinson
More contract details continue to trickle in as the 2019 free agency period winds to a close. Below are some additional reports regarding signings for the Jazz, Magic, Thunder, and Wizards:
- According to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, the Jazz gave Stanton Kidd a $250K guarantee on his 2019/20 salary. The guarantee for William Howard is only $50K, but jumps to $250K if he remains on the roster through the first game of the regular season.
- Per Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports, Michael Carter-Williams’ one-year deal with the Magic is a fully-guaranteed, veteran’s minimum contract.
- The Thunder signed big man Mike Muscala to a two-year, $4.31MM deal with a player option for the second season, reports Michael Scotto of The Athletic. A minimum-salary arrangement for Muscala, a six-year veteran, equals $4,311,628, so that’s what his contract figures to be given the Thunder’s cap situation.
- The Wizards used part of their mid-level exception to sign Justin Robinson, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports that the rookie point guard inked a three-year deal with a $250K guarantee in year one. His first-year salary is also $988,310, $90K more than what would have been permitted had he been signed with the minimum-salary exception.
Jordan McLaughlin Signs Two-Way Deal With Timberwolves
5:38pm: The deal is official, the team confirmed on Twitter.
12:37pm: Point guard Jordan McLaughlin has signed a two-way contract with the Timberwolves, reports Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
McLaughlin likely earned his opportunity with Minnesota after a successful summer league performance with the T-Wolves, where he averaged a team-leading 26.0 MPG, 5.0 APG, and 1.4 SPG.
The USC product, 23, went undrafted in 2018 before signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the Nets and joining the team for training camp. McLaughlin was ultimately waived less than one week before the start of the 2018/19 season, but remained with the organization as an affiliate player for the G League’s Long Island Nets.
Prior to his stellar performance in this year’s summer league, McLaughlin was one of 80 players invited to the NBA’s 2019 G League Elite Camp.
As our 2019/20 Two-Way Contract Tracker shows, the Timberwolves still have a vacant two-way spot after the signing of McLaughlin. That spot had been held by rookie big man Naz Reid, but he has since been promoted to the team’s 15-man roster.
Five Key Stories: 7/13/19 – 7/20/19
If you missed any of this past week’s biggest headlines from around the NBA, we’ve got you covered with our Week in Review. Here are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last seven days:
The Sixers and Ben Simmons have reached a deal on a five-year, maximum-salary contract extension through 2025. Based on the NBA’s current cap projections the contract will pay Simmons no less than $169.65MM. However, because the contract extension contains 5th year, 30% max criteria language, Simmons could earn up to $203.58MM in the event he earns an All-NBA First Team spot next season. The extension contains no options and includes a 15% trade kicker.
Chris Paul is likely to begin the 2018/19 season as a member of the Thunder after Oklahoma City failed to find any success in their attempts to trade the future hall-of-famer. One of the primary hiccups to a trade is the timing of the deal that brought Paul to OKC. Because it the trade happened so far into free agency, few contenders have the flexibility to take on Paul. As a result, a trade will likely need to include recently-signed players for salary-matching purposes who aren’t eligible to be traded until December 15 or later.
The Pacers and free agent swingman Justin Holiday have reached an agreement on a one-year, $4.8MM contract. Likely to be signed with Indiana’s room exception, Holiday should get a chance to play plenty of minutes early on this season with All-Star guard Victor Oladipo not expected to be ready to play. Holiday, 30, appeared in 82 total games last season for the Bulls and Grizzlies, averaging 10.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 1.5 SPG in 31.8 minutes per contest. He’ll also join his younger brother, Aaron Holiday, with the siblings potentially sharing the Pacers’ backcourt on occasion.
The Wizards are promoting interim GM Tommy Sheppard to the position on a permanent basis. Washington, who fired longtime GM Ernie Grunfeld just before the end of the regular season, has had Sheppard in charge since April 2, but reportedly made a run at Raptors’ top executive Masai Ujiri. The Wizards also made an offer to Tim Connelly, but the executive chose to remain in Denver running the Nuggets.
Veteran shooting guard Kyle Korver is signing with the Bucks on a one-year, veteran’s minimum deal. Korver was recently waived by the Suns after being traded by the Jazz and Grizzlies earlier this offseason. Korver averaged 8.6 PPG on .416/.397/.822 shooting in 70 games (19.1 MPG) last season for the Cavaliers and Jazz.
Here are 10 more noteworthy headlines from the past week:
- Former Clippers guard Milos Teodosic, a six-time All-EuroLeague selection, has signed with the Italian club Virtus Bologna.
- Unsurprisingly, NBA executives are prepared to push the league for a shorter summer moratorium.
- Unable to find a favorable trade, the Cavaliers waived shooting guard J.R. Smith, who has since met with the Bucks as a free agent.
- The Knicks and free agent shooting guard Reggie Bullock were able to finalize a new contract agreement after the last deal fell through.
- Former first-round pick Cameron Payne has reached an agreement to sign a two-year contract with the Raptors.
- The Kings have signed former first-round pick, forward Tyler Lydon, to a two-year contract.
- After being waived by the Pelicans, big man Christian Wood was claimed off waivers by the Pistons.
- Forward Cheick Diallo has agreed to a two-year deal with a second-year team option with the Suns.
- The Timberwolves have promoted former two-way player Naz Reid to a 15-man roster spot and standard NBA contract.
- Veteran NBA center Kosta Koufos has reached a contract agreement with defending EuroLeague champions CSKA Moscow.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.