Elijah Millsap Signs With Maccabi Tel Aviv
SATURDAY, 2:45pm: The signing is official, the team announced (h/t Sportando).
THURSDAY, 10:17pm: Free agent shooting guard Elijah Millsap is close to signing with the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops reports (via Twitter) and Adam Johnson of D-League Digest confirms (on Twitter). The sides have reached agreement, as international journalist David Pick clarifies (Twitter link). The arrangement will cover the rest of the season and won’t include any NBA escape clause, Pick tells Hoops Rumors. Millsap drew mention as a possible 10-day contract candidate for the Pelicans, who signed Bryce Dejean-Jones earlier today.
Millsap was waived earlier this month by the Jazz, who cut him rather than guaranteeing his minimum salary contract for the remainder of the season. The 28-year-old brother of Hawks combo forward Paul Millsap had seen his minutes decrease this season to 8.6 per contest in 20 appearances after averaging 19.7 minutes a night in 47 games with Utah last year. His career stats are 4.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists to accompany a shooting line of .332/.284/.683.
The 28-year-old client of Brendrick DeAngelo Simmons and Daniel Hazan has been to training camp with the Lakers, Thunder and Bucks since going undrafted out of UAB in 2010, and he spoke with Zach Links of Hoops Rumors in September 2014 about his journey to the NBA.
Western Notes: Smith, Lauvergne, Booker
The rash of frontcourt injuries suffered by the Rockets led to the team’s acquisition of Josh Smith from the Clippers on Friday, notes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. The team hopes it will get back the services of Donatas Motiejunas in the near future, but with the big man being at least a week away from resuming basketball activities, GM Daryl Morey decided to add Smith as insurance, Feigen adds. “Long term, we expect D-Mo to be back and be able to help us,” interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Where we are now, we felt we needed to do something to light a fire and keep us afloat. There are so many guys injured, we felt we could use the help at that position and it was an easy one for us because we’ve seen what he can do.”
Here’s more from out West:
- Nuggets center Joffrey Lauvergne has seen his playing time drop with the return of Jusuf Nurkic from injury, but the 24-year-old remains a part of Denver’s future, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. “With Joffrey, what I told him was whether you play … or you don’t play, I just want to reinforce to you how much we value you,” coach Michael Malone said. “Not just me but also [GM] Tim [Connelly]. He’s a big part of what we’re doing, but long term he’s a big part of what we want to do. We believe in Joffrey Lauvergne. It’s tough for him to hear that and not get the minutes that he’s not getting at the moment, but you feel bad for guys like that because Joffrey is one of our hardest workers.“
- Despite being the NBA’s youngest player, Suns shooting guard Devin Booker has shown constant improvement this season and is one of the top performing rookies, something the player credits to coach Jeff Hornacek‘s faith in him, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic writes.
- With the Timberwolves squarely out of the playoff picture the team should focus on seeing which lineups work the best for their young players, including finding additional playing time for Shabazz Muhammad, who has been underutilized this season, according to Danny Leroux of RealGM. It should be a priority for Minnesota to find out which players and lineup combinations work best heading into the summer, plus, it would also allow the front office to better gauge interim coach Sam Mitchell‘s ability to develop players, Leroux adds.
Hoops Rumors Originals 1/17/16-1/23/16
Here’s a look back at the original analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this past week…
- If you missed the week’s live chat, you can view the transcript here.
- Zach Links highlighted some of the better basketball blogs around in his weekly installment of Hoops Links.
- Will Joseph answered reader questions in our Weekly Mailbag.
- If you missed any of our daily reader-driven discussions, be sure to check out the Community Shootaround archives.
- Chuck Myron reviewed the D-League assignments made this season by teams without their own affiliates.
- Here’s how you can follow Hoops Rumors on social media and RSS feeds.
- Chuck re-examined Markieff Morris as a trade candidate.
- You can keep track of where your favorite team currently stands in relation to the 2016 NBA Draft lottery with our reverse standings tracker.
- As a part of our continuing series, “The Beat,” Chuck interviewed Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press.
- We reviewed our commenting policy. Play nice everyone.
- Chuck ran down the expiring contracts worth more than the minimum salary that ended up in a trade at the deadline last season.
- Here’s how you can follow specific players on Hoops Rumors.
Eastern Notes: Afflalo, Mirotic, Jennings
Knicks shooting guard Arron Afflalo is fine with playing second fiddle to small forward Carmelo Anthony in New York, but he’s ready to answer the call as the team’s go-to player if needed, Mike Coppinger of USA Today writes. “[Anthony] is one of the best scorers of all time, so I don’t mind being second fiddle to that,” said Afflalo. “But, for example, if he ever was to get hurt, or if he’s out of the game for any reason, I don’t have any issues with stepping into that role.”
Most NBA players begin to decline when they reach the age of 30, but Afflalo, who turned 30 in October, believes he can buck that trend, Coppinger relays. “I think I’m only going to get better as I get older because of my style of play,” Afflalo said. “I like to play a more post game, spot-up 3s, coming off screens. These are things that as long as you’re in good condition – I’m not really relying on heavy speed or heavy athleticism – I’m more relying on my footwork and skill and my body. So I feel as I get older with more experience, I’m just going to get better with age.”
Here’s the latest from the Central Division:
- Bulls combo forward Nikola Mirotic is struggling with his confidence this season after losing his spot as a starter, but he understands he needs to keep working to regain his form, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune writes. “I’m struggling a little bit now and not shooting well,” Mirotic said. “I’m not feeling the same confidence I was before. The only way to get it back is to work hard and stay positive. I need to forget what happened yesterday. I’m not scoring easy baskets. I’m not running like before. I’m not making those open 3s. I’m not doing things in the low post. But if I can do it last year in March, I can do it this year, too. I think it will come soon.“
- Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy is pleased with Brandon Jennings‘ performance leading the team’s second unit, but he doesn’t think the point guard will be back to full speed until training camp next season, MLive’s David Mayo notes. “For the most part, our team has played well with him on the court, I think because of the way he pushes the ball, and moves the ball, and everything else,” Van Gundy said. “Not only are you coming back off injury, but you miss 30-plus games, and you missed all of the summer. It just takes time to get back into it.“
- The Celtics have assigned James Young to their D-League affiliate in Maine, the team announced.
Week In Review 1/17/16-1/23/16
The Cavs fired head coach David Blatt on Friday and reached agreement on a three-year deal with Tyronn Lue to replace him. Blatt went 83-40 in the regular season and 14-6 in the playoffs during his season and a half in charge of the Cavs, a team with the highest of expectations. James returned to Cleveland from his time with the Heat just weeks after the Cavs hired Blatt, and that drastically changed the nature of the job, which became a win-or-else proposition as the team moved away from rebuilding and positioned itself to win immediately.
The Cavs made Lue the highest-paid NBA assistant coach ever when they hired him to Blatt’s staff in 2014. He reportedly interviewed twice for the head coaching job before the team instead gave it to Blatt. Lue played 11 seasons in the NBA, the last of which was 2008/09. He joined the Celtics staff the next season and followed Doc Rivers to the Clippers where he continued as an assistant coach before heading to Cleveland. This will be his first job as a head coach.
Here’s more from the week that was…
Miscellaneous News
- The league announced the starters for the 2016 NBA All-Star game.
- The Nuggets and GM Tim Connelly agreed to a multi-year contract extension.
- Grizzlies small forward/power forward Matt Barnes was issued a $35K fine from the league for his comments about Knicks coach Derek Fisher.
- Avery Bradley hired Landmark Sports agent Rob Pelinka. The Celtics combo guard had been with former NBA player Mitchell Butler of the Vanguard Sports Group and Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports.
- Bulls center Joakim Noah will be out of action for four to six months after suffering a dislocated left shoulder and undergoing surgery.
- The Nuggets are reportedly actively in pursuit of trades that would send out J.J. Hickson.
- Pelicans shooting guard Eric Gordon suffered a broken right ring finger and will be out for four to six weeks.
- The Nets hired well-known shooting coach David Nurse to work with their players.
- Pau Gasol signed with the Creative Artists Agency.
Signings
- The Magic signed Keith Appling to a 10-day contract.
- The Grizzlies signed Ryan Hollins to a 10-day deal.
- The Suns signed Lorenzo Brown to a second 10-day contract.
- Former Nuggets and Rockets combo forward Kostas Papanikolaou signed with Olympiacos of his native Greece.
- The Suns signed Cory Jefferson to a 10-day contract.
- The Pelicans signed Bryce Dejean-Jones to a 10-day contract.
- Free agent shooting guard Elijah Millsap signed with the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.
- The Clippers signed Jeff Ayres to a 10-day contract.
You can stay up to date on all the 10-day deals handed out with our 10-day contract tracker.
Trades
- The Clippers traded Josh Smith, the draft rights to Sergei Lishouk and cash to the Rockets in exchange for the draft rights to Maarty Leunen.
D-League News
You can stay up to date on all the D-League assignments and recalls for the season here.
Cavaliers Notes: Jackson, Blatt, Lue
Former Cavs big man Brendan Haywood has maintained close ties with members of the Cleveland organization and says that former coach David Blatt lost the locker room due to his reticence to challenge LeBron James, Steve Aschburner of NBA.com relays. In an interview on Sirius XM’s NBA Today channel, Haywood said, “Coach Blatt was very hesitant to challenge LeBron James. It was one of those situations where, being a rookie coach, and LeBron being bigger than life, it was a little too much for him. I remember we had James Jones [talk] to Coach about how, ‘Hey, you can’t just skip over when LeBron James makes a mistake in the film room.’ Because we all see it. And we’re like, ‘Hey, you didn’t say anything about that. You’re going to correct when Matthew Dellavedova‘s not in the right spot. You’re going to say something when Tristan Thompson‘s not in the right spot. Well, we see a fast break and LeBron didn’t get back on defense or there’s a rotation and he’s supposed to be there, and you just keep rolling the film and the whole room is quiet.’ We see that as players. That’s when … as a player, you start to lose respect for a coach.”
Here’s the latest out of Cleveland:
- Tyronn Lue‘s three year contract calls for him to make a prorated $3MM for this season, $3MM for the 2016/17 campaign and the final year is a team option worth $3.5MM, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com relays (ESPN Now link).
- James and his agent, Rich Paul, had been trying to get Blatt replaced with former Warriors coach Mark Jackson since last season, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports writes. Once it became apparent that the Cavs would not hire Jackson, Lue became James’ and Klutch Sports’ fallback option, though Lue’s refusal to sign with the agency for representation leaves him in a position where he needs to have immediate success, Wojnarowski adds. The Yahoo scribe also notes that Lue considered taking the position as an interim one, but instead decided to take the security of a longer deal.
- Mavs coach Rick Carlisle called the Cavs’ decision to part ways with Blatt an embarrassment to the league and believes Blatt will land another NBA position, Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News writes. “It’s a shocker. It’s just a real shocker,” Carlisle said regarding Blatt’s dismissal. “The bottom line with this is that I know a couple of things about coaching in this league. I know integrity. And I know knowledge. I can’t speak to the internal things that [might] have gone on in Cleveland. I’ve read some of the comments that came from the Cavaliers. Teams have a right to make changes. But David Blatt is going to be a highly sought-after coach this summer, if and when there are openings — if he chooses to stay. After this, you just hope a guy like this is still open to coaching in the NBA.“
Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 1/22/16
The league officially announced the starters for the 2016 All-Star game on Thursday and Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant led all players with a total of 1,891,614 votes, in this, the final season of his career. Also named starters in the West were: Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard. LeBron James, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Kyle Lowry are the starters for the Eastern Conference.
As with every season, there are a number of deserving players who won’t be on the court for the opening tip for February 14th’s exhibition. The Pelicans’ Anthony Davis took the biggest hit by not being voted in, needing a starting nod to trigger the Derrick Rose rule, which would have given Davis a salary of a projected $24.9MM instead of $20.4MM next season. The difference could amount to $25.875MM over the life of his contract, based on those same projections, though he could still invoke the rule if he earns an All-NBA nod or wins the MVP award in the spring. But Davis certainly wasn’t the only star player to miss out on being selected.
Which brings me to the topic for today: Which player not being named an All-Star starter was the biggest snub?
Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the matter. We look forward to what you have to say.
Submit Your Questions For Hoops Rumors Mailbag
In addition to our regular weekly chat, which Chuck Myron facilitates every Wednesday, we have a second opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in our weekly mailbag feature, which is posted every Sunday.
Have a question regarding player movement, free agent rumors, the salary cap, the NBA draft, or the top storylines of the week? You can e-mail them here: hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com. Feel free to send emails throughout the week, but please be mindful that we may receive a sizable number of questions and might not get to all of them.
If you missed out on any past mailbags and would like to catch up, you can view the full archives here.
And-Ones: Blatt, Davis, Clippers
Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert said that it was a difficult choice to fire David Blatt, but also noted that it was ultimately GM David Griffin‘s decision to do so, according to his official statement (h/t NBA.com). “Over the course of my business career I have learned that sometimes the hardest thing to do is also the right thing to do,” said Gilbert “Our ownership group supports David Griffin’s decision. We would like to thank David Blatt for his work over these past two seasons where the Cavaliers transformed into a playoff team after a rebuilding phase. We believe Tyronn Lue is the right coach at the right time to put us in the best position to take the last but most challenging step to complete our mission to deliver Cleveland an NBA Championship.”
“On behalf of the organization, I would like to thank David Blatt for his efforts and commitment to this franchise,” Griffin said. “He spent the last year and a half battling intense scrutiny, working to mold a very willful group and we all recognize that is not at all an easy task.”
Here’s more from around the NBA:
- The Clippers made two moves today, sending Josh Smith to the Rockets via trade and agreeing to sign Jeff Ayres to a 10-day deal, and coach/executive Doc Rivers indicated that the team may stand pat the rest of the season as far as roster moves are concerned, Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times tweets.
- Multiple NBA D-League teams have invited free agent Baron Davis to practice with them in advance of a possible signing, but the veteran has declined all such offers to date, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor relays (on Twitter). Davis cleared D-League waivers last week after going unclaimed by the league’s 19 teams.
- The Rockets were sent precisely $456,921 by Los Angeles as part of the Smith trade, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (via Twitter).
Dead Money: Atlantic Division
Not every dollar of each team’s payroll shows up on the court, as franchises often dish out funds to players who are no longer on their rosters. Players with guaranteed money who are waived, either through a standard waiver release, use of the stretch provision, or when a buyout arrangement is reached, still count against a team’s cap figure for the duration of their contracts, or the amount of time specified by the collective bargaining agreement for when a player’s salary is stretched.
There are even situations that arise, like the one with JaVale McGee and the Sixers, where these players are actually the highest-paid on the team. McGee is set to collect $12MM from Philly, and he won’t score one point or collect one rebound for the franchise this season. The next highest-paid athlete for the Sixers is Gerald Wallace, who was also waived, and he is scheduled to earn $10,105,855 for the 2015/16 campaign. In fact, the total payroll for the Sixers’ entire active roster this season is $32,203,553, which is merely $3,709,857 more than the amount being paid to players no longer on the team!
Listed below are the names and cap hits associated with players who are no longer on the rosters of teams in the Atlantic Division:
Boston Celtics
- Perry Jones III (Waived) — $2,038,206
- Zoran Dragic (Waived) — $1,706,250
- Malcolm Miller (Waived) — $25,000
- Levi Randolph (Waived) — $25,000
- Corey Walden (Waived) — $25,000
Total= $3,819,456
Brooklyn Nets
- Deron Williams (Waived via stretch provision) — $5,474,787
- Ryan Boatright (Waived) — $75,000
- Quincy Miller (Waived) — $50,000
- Dahntay Jones (Waived) — $17,637
- Justin Harper (Waived) — $9,942
Total= $5,627,366
New York Knicks
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo (Waived) — $75,000
- Darion Atkins (Waived) — $75,000
- Wesley Saunders (Waived) — $75,000
- Travis Trice (Waived) — $50,000
Total= $275,000
Philadelphia 76ers
- JaVale McGee (Waived) — $12,000,000
- Gerald Wallace (Waived) — $10,105,855
- Furkan Aldemir (Waived) — $2,836,768
- Tony Wroten (Waived) — $2,179,353
- Pierre Jackson (Waived) — $750,000
- Christian Wood (Waived) — $222,392
- Scottie Wilbekin (Waived) — $200,000
- Phil Pressey (Waived) — $183,883
- Jordan McRae (Waived) — $6,178
- Jordan Railey (Waived) — $6,178
- J.P. Tokoto (Waived) — $3,089
Total= $28,493,696
Toronto Raptors
- Ronald Roberts (Waived) — $75,000
- Michale Kyser (Waived) — $25,000
- Shannon Scott (Waived) — $25,000
- Axel Toupane (Waived) — $25,000
Total= $150,000
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.