Admiral Schofield Signs Rookie Deal With Wizards
JULY 14: Schofield’s signing is official, the Wizards confirmed on Twitter.
JULY 12: Second-round pick Admiral Schofield has agreed to a three-year contract with the Wizards, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
The Wizards acquired the 6’5” Schofield in a draft-night deal with the Sixers. The University of Tennessee product averaged 16.5 PPG and 6.1 RPG in 31.8 MPG during his senior year. He shot 38.7% from long range during his four years with the Vols.
He has averaged 8.0 PPG in 20.8 MPG during four summer league in Las Vegas. He’ll likely spend most of his rookie campaign in the G League with the Capital City Go-Go.
Five Key Stories: 7/6/19 – 7/13/19
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:
After Kawhi Leonard committed to the Clippers, they acquired Paul George from the Thunder for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari and future first-round picks. The Thunder received five first-round picks plus the right to swap two others as the Clippers fulfilled Leonard’s desire to team up with Most Valuable Player finalist George. The Clippers became instant contenders for next season’s title despite giving up their promising young point guard and another starter in the deal.
In a blockbuster swap involving two of the NBA’s biggest names, the Thunder traded Russell Westbrook to the Rockets for Chris Paul along with two future first-rounders and two pick swaps. Once George’s request to be traded to the Clippers was fulfilled, there was no reason for the Thunder to retain Westbrook during a full rebuild. The Rockets are hoping that Westbrook is the final piece to a championship puzzle. It’s likely that Paul will never play for the Thunder. He’ll either be traded again or work out a buyout agreement and become a free agent.
The Knicks reached a one-year agreement with free agent forward Marcus Morris after Morris backed out on a verbal agreement with the Spurs. The former Celtic decided to test the free agent market again next summer instead of signing a two-year deal with the Spurs. San Antonio shifted gears and signed a younger forward, Trey Lyles. New York had the flexibility to add Morris after renegotiating its deal with Reggie Bullock due to health concerns.
The NBA added in-game challenges by coaches and also made changes to the replay rules for next season. The rule will be implemented on a one-year, trial basis. Coaches will get one challenge per game, whether or not it’s successful. Called fouls, goaltending, basket interference, and out-of-bounds plays are the only calls that can be challenged. Uncalled fouls can’t be challenged. Coaches must have a timeout available to use a challenge, and must use that timeout immediately after the call they want to challenge.
Point guard Tyus Jones signed an offer sheet and the Timberwolves declined to match it. Jones, 23, averaged 6.9 PPG, 4.8 APG, and 1.2 SPG last year in 68 games (22.9 MPG) for Minnesota. He’ll join a Grizzlies point guard rotation that will feature No. 2 overall pick Ja Morant, along with newly-acquired youngster De’Anthony Melton. Jones’ three-year deal reportedly has a first-year base value of $8.4MM with $850K in likely bonuses. It has a descending structure but can be worth close to $27MM in total.
Here are 10 more noteworthy headlines from the past week:
- Andre Iguodala is drawing interest from at least a handful of teams after he was traded from the Warriors to the Grizzlies in a salary dump.
- The Rockets agreed to a one-year deal with veteran center Tyson Chandler.
- The Hawks signed forward Jabari Parker to a two-year contract.
- The Suns reached a tw0-year, $30MM agreement with restricted free agent Kelly Oubre.
- The Celtics opened up a roster spot by waiving former first-round pick Guerschon Yabusele.
- The Warriors waived longtime second-unit point guard Shaun Livingston.
- The Mavericks acquired Delon Wright from the Grizzlies in a sign-and-trade.
- The Lakers added another backcourt piece by signing free agent Avery Bradley to a two-year contract.
- The Raptors re-signed guard Patrick McCaw to a two-year contract.
- LeBron James is expected to start at point guard for the Lakers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 7/6/19 – 7/13/19
Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team creates original content to complement our news feed. Here are our segments and features from the past seven days:
- We took a closer look at the top remaining free agents on the market, including veterans like Joakim Noah and Jeremy Lin. In a related post, we revealed which teams had the most salary cap space available.
- In our latest poll, we asked which Western Conference team deserved to be the favorite entering next season.
- Luke Adams broke down how five teams used the salary-cap rules to their advantage during free agency.
- In our latest Community Shootaround we asked our readers to choose the Eastern Conference team most likely to reach the Finals next season.
Jaylen Adams Waived By Hawks
The Hawks have waived guard Jaylen Adams, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets.
Adams’ $1,416,852 salary for next season would have been guaranteed on July 19 if he hadn’t been waived. The Hawks will only incur a cap hit of $100K.
Atlanta now has $7MM in cap space and 13 players on guaranteed contracts, Bobby Marks of ESPN notes. The Hawks are short on point guards behind Trae Young, so they may be targeting a veteran at that spot.
Adams signed a two-way deal with Atlanta last summer, then had it converted to a standard contract in February. He went undrafted out of St. Bonaventure.
The 23-year-old Adams appeared in 34 NBA games last season, averaging 3.2 PPG and 1.9 APG in 12.6 MPG.
Warriors Notes: Curry, Livingston, Cauley-Stein, Cook
Warriors All-Star guard Stephen Curry is confident he’ll mesh his skills with D’Angelo Russell, who was acquired from the Nets in a sign-and-trade, according to an ESPN report.
“The chemistry will develop quickly. We’ll be really purposeful about that and trying to set the tone for how we’re going to play this year,” Curry said.
He’s also looking forward to being in an underdog role for a change with Kevin Durant signing with Brooklyn and Klay Thompson expected to miss a large chunk of the season.
“I’m excited, to be honest with you,” he said. “Five straight years in the Finals and we’ve accomplished a lot, and three championships. There’s a lot to be proud of. But everybody wants a new challenge in terms of how do you get back to that level.”
We have more on the Warriors:
- The Warriors are likely to offer Shaun Livingston a role in the organization if he opts to retire, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. The veteran guard was waived this week before his $7.7MM salary for next season became fully guaranteed.
- Willie Cauley-Stein was courted by Curry, Draymond Green and coach Steve Kerr and that made his free agency decision easier, as Anthony Slater of The Athletic relays. Cauley-Stein accepted a salary slightly above the veteran’s minimum in order to join a perennial winner after the Kings rescinded his qualifying offer. “It honestly just came down to situation. I know I had said something about getting paid at the beginning of the year,” he said. “But by the end of it, it was no longer about getting paid. It was about staying secure and building off that security.”
- Guard Quinn Cook harbors no ill will toward the organization, though he was surprised it pulled his qualifying offer in order to clear cap space, as he told Mark Medina of the San Jose Mercury News. Cook wound up signing a two-year, $6MM deal with the Lakers. “It was tough for me with how everything went down, but no hard feelings,” Cook said. “We’re family forever and champions forever.”
Eastern Notes: Young, Westbrook, Siakam, Hawks
Thaddeus Young gives the Bulls a much-needed glue guy, Sam Smith of the team’s website writes. Not only does Young fill the stat sheet but he also provides other valuable assets, such as contesting shots, staying in front of his man and forcing opponents to pass late in the shot clock, Smith adds. Young signed a three-year contract with Chicago that could be worth up to $43.6MM. Young will embrace a leadership role, as Sean Highkin of NBC Sports Chicago relays. “I know the task is very, very hard,” the former Pacers big man said. “I carry that weight each and every day. I know I can help these young guys get better, I know I can push them over the hump.”
We have more from around the Central Division:
- Adding Russell Westbrook would have made the Pistons better in the short term but it wasn’t worth the long-term risk, Keith Langlois of the team’s website opines. The Pistons couldn’t afford to give up future first-rounders and agree to pick swaps as Houston did to acquire Westbrook from Oklahoma City. With Blake Griffin‘s big contract and Andre Drummond holding an option to become a free agent next summer, the Pistons would not have been able to make any more notable future upgrades if they took on Westbrook’s huge contract, Langlois adds.
- The Raptors might as well offer Pascal Siakam a max four- or five-year extension this summer, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca argues. Ben Simmons has reportedly received a similar offer from the Sixers, while Jamal Murray has already signed an extension with the Nuggets. Siakam has outperformed both of his peers in many categories, Grange notes. The Raptors also don’t have any salary-cap restraints in future seasons that would prevent them from maxing out Siakam, Grange adds.
- Rookie of the Year finalist Trae Young and young big John Collins will see an increase in playing time, Hawks GM Travis Schlenk told Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Lottery picks De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish will also get thrown into the fire for the rebuilding Hawks. “Last year, Trae and John played about 30 minutes. They are probably going to play 35 minutes this year as they continue to grow,” Schlenk said. “De’Andre is obviously going to play a lot of minutes. Cam, we are going to play a lot.”
Raptors To Give Dewan Hernandez Three-Year Deal
The Raptors are signing late second-round selection Dewan Hernandez of Miami to a partially guaranteed three-year contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Hernandez, the second-to-last pick in June at No. 59 overall, averaged 11.4 PPG and 6.7 RPG in 25.8 MPG in 2017/18 for the University of Miami, but didn’t play last season due to eligibility issues. The 6’11” Hernandez, 22, did not make a 3-point shot in his two college seasons.
He will likely spent much of his rookie season with the Raptors’ G League affiliate. He has averaged 12.3 PPG and 7.5 RPG in 23.5 MPG over four summer league appearances.
Lakers Notes: Pelinka, Contracts, Green, Cousins
The Lakers are taking an all-or-nothing mentality into next season with the acquisition of Anthony Davis and numerous veteran free agents, including DeMarcus Cousins. GM Rob Pelinka said there’s only one goal for next season, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “For us, anything short of a championship is not success,” Pelinka said. “So we have to learn from last season, because we didn’t win a championship. And a lot of that went into the construction of the roster this year.”
We have more on the Lakers:
- Pelinka notes the benefit of signing players to short-term contracts. While Davis is expected to be a long-term Lakers, only James (player option) is currently on the books beyond 2021, Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times relays. “It gives us the ability to not only contend in the short term with the players we wanted, but also add a superstar or max player in that July of 2021,” Pelinka said.
- Shooting guard Danny Green, another off-season free agent addition, said he waited for Raptors teammate Kawhi Leonard to make his decision before he chose his destination, according to another Ganguli story. Green may have stayed in Toronto or gone to Dallas if Leonard hadn’t joined the Clippers. “Those five days seemed like five months. … You think a day, it goes by pretty fast but the way it was happening, the way I was talking to him, you would think it was a week. Like, ‘I got to wait another day, dude? Like, come on!’” Green said.
- The Cousins signing will only work if he’s willing to come off the bench and split the center spot with JaVale McGee, Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times opines. That could be a tough for Cousins to accept, given that he was a premier player prior to rupturing his Achilles two seasons ago, Woike notes. Cousins is thrilled to be reunited with former Pelicans teammate Davis, Youngmisuk writes in a separate story. “We realized how much better we made one another and how much we made the game easier for each other. We both appreciate each other’s presence,” Cousins said. “To add LeBron James to the mix, his résumé speaks for itself.”
Community Shootaround: Eastern Conference Favorite
Unlike the decade when the LeBron James-led Heat or Cavaliers were the automatic favorite in the Eastern Conference, there are several legitimate contenders that could reach the Finals next season.
Milwaukee, with MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, will enter the season with the best odds of ending its long Finals drought. The Bucks, who had the league’s best record last season, haven’t played for the title since 1974.
The Bucks were able to re-sign some key free agents — Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez and George Hill — but couldn’t afford to retain restricted free agent Malcolm Brogdon. They also didn’t add any top talent. Veteran shooting guard Wesley Matthews is the most notable newcomer.
The Celtics lost free agents Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Marcus Morris. Signing Kemba Walker was a major coup and team chemistry should be better, allowing potential star Jayson Tatum to blossom. But frontcourt deficiencies could hinder their chances of going deep in the playoffs.
The Sixers lost Jimmy Butler, though the sign-and-trade brought back Josh Richardson from the Heat. They did retain Tobias Harris, albeit at a high cost, and surprisingly signed Horford. Their starting five will have a different dynamic — more size, less offensive firepower — but it should be enough for a strong playoff run if Joel Embiid can stay healthy.
It will be nearly impossible for the Raptors to repeat, though Pascal Siakam has emerged as one of the league’s top young players.
The Nets, as they wait for Kevin Durant, are probably a year away from making a run despite the addition of Irving. The Pacers acquired some interesting pieces — Brogdon, T.J. Warren and Jeremy Lamb — but they need Victor Oladipo to come back strong from a serious leg injury to make noise.
The Magic could make the playoffs again by re-signing Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross but may not be good enough to take the next step. The Pistons added Derrick Rose to a mix that includes frontcourt stars Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond but after getting swept by the Bucks last spring, it’s hard to see them winning more than one playoff series.
That leads us to our question of the day: With free agency winding down and most of the major trades in the rearview mirror, which Eastern Conference team is most likely to reach the NBA Finals next season?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
Sixers Sign Kyle O’Quinn
JULY 11: The Sixers continue to finalize their contract agreements from the first week of free agency, announcing today in a press release that they’ve officially signed O’Quinn.
JULY 1: Veteran big man Kyle O’Quinn will sign a one-year contract with the Sixers, Kyle Neubeck of The Philly Voice tweets.
O’Quinn will receive the veteran’s minimum and provide depth behind Joel Embiid and Al Horford, who has committed to the Sixers in free agency.
O’Quinn will be joining his fourth team during his NBA career. He played three seasons for the Magic and another three for the Knicks. Last season, he played a backup role for the Pacers, appearing in 45 games and averaging 3.5 PPG and 2.6 RPG in 8.2 MPG.
In a separate transaction, the team has renounced the rights to 2017 first-round pick Anzejs Pasecniks, Sam Amick of The Athletic tweets. The 23-year-old center was a draft-and-stash prospect. Pasecniks wants to play in the NBA next season and the Sixers did not want to add him to the roster due to salary-cap issues, Amick adds in another tweet. Pasecniks’ cap hold was $2.1MM.