Week In Review 12/6/15-12/12/15
The Sixers hired USA Basketball chairman and longtime NBA executive Jerry Colangelo to serve in their front office. Colangelo will hold the titles of Special Advisor to the Managing General Partner and Chairman of Basketball Operations. Sixers GM Sam Hinkie will continue in his capacity in charge of day-to-day basketball operations, according to owner Josh Harris. Hinkie will still have the final say on personnel, though “a lot of collaboration and discussion” will be involved in the team’s roster moves, Colangelo relayed. “It’s not every day you have the opportunity to work alongside a Hall of Famer with Jerry’s unique set of experiences,” Hinkie said in the team’s statement. “I feel incredibly fortunate to have him as part of our organization.” Colangelo built the Suns up from expansion as its primary basketball executive from its inception in 1968 until 1994. He has won the Executive of the Year award four times.
Here’s more from the week that was:
Signings
- Arnett Moultrie, who last played with the Sixers in 2013/14, signed to play in Lebanon with Al Riyadi.
- Mirza Begić, whom the Pelicans waived in October, signed with Spain’s Bilbao.
D-League News
- The Idaho Stampede, the Jazz’s D-League affiliate, reacquired point guard Phil Pressey.
- Former Nets, Sixers and Bucks point guard Jorge Gutierrez signed with the D-League affiliate of the Cavaliers.
You can stay up to date on all the D-League assignments and recalls for the season here.
Miscellaneous News
- The Sixers and coach Brett Brown reached an agreement on a two-year contract extension.
- The NBA suspended Al Jefferson five games for a violation of its anti-drug program.
- The Rockets are reportedly looking into trading either Terrence Jones or Donatas Motiejunas.
- The Wizards used the stretch provision to spread out the cap hit associated with the $2.5MM partial guarantee on Martell Webster‘s salary for next season.
- The league and the NBPA held preliminary talks regarding the next collective bargaining agreement.
- Nets rookie swingman Rondae Hollis-Jefferson suffered a non-displaced fracture of the posterior talus in his right ankle during practice last Sunday and he is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks after undergoing surgery.
- Paul Pierce is considering retiring after this season.
2016/17 Salary Cap Projection: Miami Heat
The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 has been set at $70MM, which is an 11% increase from last season, and the luxury tax line is fixed at $84.74MM. The last cap projection from the league prior to the official numbers being announced had been $67.1MM, and the projection for the tax line had been $81.6MM. Many league executives and agents believe that the salary cap will escalate to a whopping $95MM for 2016/17, a higher figure than the league’s last projection of $89MM. This significant bump is a result of the league’s new $24 billion TV deal that kicks in just in time for next season.
The increase in the salary cap will almost assuredly set off a flurry of activity in the free agent market next summer, and it will also make it easier than ever for teams to deal away their higher-priced stars. Prudent executives are acutely aware of exactly how much cap room they have to play with, not just for the current campaign, but for next season and beyond as well. While the exact amount of 2016/17’s salary cap won’t be announced until next summer, it always pays to know just how much salary is on the books for each franchise. With this in mind, we at Hoops Rumors will be breaking down the projected 2016/17 financial commitments for each franchise, and we’ll continue onward with a look at the Miami Heat:
- Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $48,008,675
- Partially Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $0
- Non Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $1,855,067
- Total Projected Salary Cap Commitments: $49,863,742
If the salary cap were to fall in line with the projection of $89MM, Miami would have approximately $39,136,258 in cap space, or $45,136,258 if the cap were to be set at the higher mark of $95MM. Again, these are merely predictions until the exact cap amounts are announced, and they are not meant to illustrate the exact amount that the team will have available to spend this coming offseason.
Miami will also need to make decisions regarding Tyler Johnson, who is eligible to become a restricted free agent next summer. If the Heat wish to retain the right to match any offer sheets the player were to receive the team would need to submit a qualifying offer worth $1,180,431. That number would merely be a placeholder until the player either inked a new deal or signed his qualifying offer, which would then set Johnson up for unrestricted free agency the following offseason.
Trades and long-term free agent signings made during the season will also have a significant impact on the figures above, and we’ll be updating these posts to reflect the new numbers after any signings and trades have been made official.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Jazz Mull Signing Toure’ Murry
The Jazz are considering signing combo guard Toure’ Murry, Jody Genessy of The Deseret Times reports (Twitter link). Utah isn’t the only team considering signing Murry, Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com tweets, though the names of the potentially interested clubs were not relayed.
Murry currently plays in the D-League for the Texas Legends, the Mavericks’ affiliate. In eight appearances this season for the Legends, Murry is averaging 14.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 6.3 assists in 33.7 minutes per contest. The Wizards waived the 26-year-old during the preseason. He made five appearances for Washington while on a pair of 10-day contracts last season. Murry’s career numbers through 56 regular season NBA games are 2.6 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists to go with a slash line of .433/.417/.610.
Utah currently has the regular season maximum of 15 players on its roster, meaning the team would have to make a corresponding move in order to add Murry. Both Elijah Millsap and Chris Johnson possess non-guaranteed deals, making either a prime candidate to be released, though that is merely my speculation. Both of their deals will become fully guaranteed if they remain on Utah’s roster past January 10th, which is the leaguewide contract guarantee date.
Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 12/11/15
A report made yesterday by Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops relayed that the Clippers are gauging the interest that other teams have in trading for Jamal Crawford once again. Crawford had been the frequent subject of trade rumors in the offseason, when reports indicated the team explored trading him around draft time and that the Knicks, Heat and Cavs had interest. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports suggested this week that the Clippers remained open to dealing the 35-year-old shooting guard amid a report that the team recently gauged interest in Lance Stephenson and Josh Smith.
Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers denied on multiple occasions in the past few days that he’s spoken to anyone about Stephenson and Smith, and he said in September that he’d be “very surprised” if Crawford doesn’t remain with the team through the rest of the season. Any trade talk the Clippers are engaging in at this point is exploratory, a source told Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Crawford is in the final year of his contract, which pays him $5.675MM. It’s unclear if Miami, Cleveland or New York maintains interest in the veteran.
So here’s the topic for today: Should the Clippers look to trade Jamal Crawford, or is he too valuable a commodity to part with?
Do you believe L.A. would be better served to deal Crawford and try to extract some value from his expiring deal? If so, what sort of return can the team realistically expect? If not, why do you believe Crawford should remain a Clipper? Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the subject. We look forward to what you have to say.
And-Ones: Brand, Martin, D-League
The Sixers are now likely to look to add veterans to the roster for additional leadership now that Jerry Colangelo is officially a member of the front office, and one name to keep an eye on is veteran power forward Elton Brand, Zach Lowe of ESPN.com opines. The 36-year-old was pessimistic about his chances for playing a 17th season in the NBA back in August, when he told Al Coqueran of The Examiner News, “I could get in shape if I got the call but this looks like the end of the run for me, right now it is family time.” Brand made 36 appearances for the Hawks last season, averaging 2.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in 13.5 minutes of action per contest.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Cartier Martin, who was cut by the Pistons during the preseason and is currently a member of the Grizzlies‘ D-League affiliate in Iowa, is expected to miss several months due to a wrist injury, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor relays (via Twitter).
- Knicks combo forward Derrick Williams indicated that communication between he and coach Derek Fisher isn’t great, which is something he misses about George Karl, who took over as Kings coach late last season, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. Williams appreciates the brief time he had under Karl, saying, “He’s a good coach. He wasn’t really tough like that. That was one game. He expects a lot of things out of me. I think that’s always good, when you have a coach that really expects things out of you, wants to bring out the best in you. Myself and him, we talked about it. It was no hard feelings with the quotes. That happens when a coach expects a lot of you. At the end of the day, he wasn’t too, too hard on me. He wanted the best out of me.“
- The Grizzlies have assigned small forward James Ennis to their D-League affiliate in Iowa, the team announced. This will be Ennis’ third stint with the Energy on the season, as our D-League tracker shows.
- The Mavericks have assigned Justin Anderson, Jeremy Evans and Salah Mejri to the Texas Legends, their D-League affiliate, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com relays (Twitter link). This is the second jaunt to the D-League on the season for both Anderson and Mejri, while Evans is making his initial trip.
- Mitch McGary has been assigned to the Thunder‘s D-League affiliate, the team announced (on Twitter). This is McGary’s third assignment to the Blue on the season.
- The Pacers have assigned Joe Young to their D-League affiliate in Fort Wayne, the team announced.
Hoops Rumors Resources
Hoops Rumors has a wealth of available resources readily at your disposal. From the most casual basketball fan to the hard-core salary cap aficionado, we have something for everyone to enjoy and delve into. We have you covered if you want to track the latest trades, browse all 30 team rosters, and find easy-to-read articles that explain the nuances of the collective bargaining agreement.
Here are some of the resources available at a glance:
- Check out our expanded Roster Counts for each team’s current roster, as well as the contract status for each player.
- Our Agency Database tells you the representation for all of your favorite players, and you can sort by team and agency.
- You can review the summer moves for all 30 NBA teams by checking out our Offseason In Review series.
- If you want to know more about the nuances of the salary cap or some of the more complicated NBA roster rules, check out the Hoops Rumors Glossary.
- You can stay on top of which draft-and-stash players have signed with NBA teams this offseason by checking here. We also have a full rundown of the signing status for each of the 2015 draftees here.
- On Wednesdays at 3:00pm CT, Chuck Myron answers reader questions in a live chat. You can check out transcripts of our past discussions here.
- Each week we answer readers’ questions in Hoops Rumors’ Weekly Mailbag. You can submit your queries to HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com.
- You can see all of the traded future NBA Draft picks here.
- Every Sunday we feature some of the best content from basketball blogs in our Hoops Links series.
- Check out our Schedule of Salary Guarantee Dates to see when players’ contract guarantees kick in.
- Over the summer Zach Links interviewed a number of potential NBA draftees as a part of our Draft Prospect Q&A Series.
- You can view all of the 2015 NBA Draft signings here and the status of draft-and-stash players here.
- You can keep track of all the players inked to 10-day deals from the 2006/07 season through today by going to our 10-Day Contract Tracker.
- In our ongoing Trade Retrospective series, we look back at past trades to see how they turned out for all of the teams involved.
- If you’re looking to catch up, our Week in Review posts compile the top news and rumors from the past seven days, while our Hoops Rumors Originals posts recap the site’s original content for the week. Both roundups are published every Saturday.
- Curious as to how your team utilized the NBA D-League last season? Check out our complete D-League Usage Reports for the 2014/15 campaign. You can stay on top of all the D-League assignments for the 2015/16 season here.
- You can view each NBA team’s salary cap breakdown for the 2015/16 season here.
- You can view all of the NBA D-League team affiliations here.
- Stay up to the minute on all of the breaking news and original content that we feature here at Hoops Rumors by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook, as well as Google+.
- You can view the complete 2015/16 schedule for each NBA team here.
- We profiled a number of players eligible for contract extensions as a part of our Extension Candidate Series.
- You can view all of our 2015 NBA Draft prospect profiles here.
- Our list of outstanding traded player exceptions is updated whenever a trade exception is created, used or expires.
- We also keep track of all of the trade exceptions that are created as a result of these deals here.
- We’re tracking each team’s use of the amnesty clause. Our complete table shows which clubs have used the provision and which still have it available.
- You can keep up with the players who are eligible for restricted or unrestricted free agency after the 2015/16 season here, as well as those who are eligible after the 2016/17 season here.
- Want to know the key days on the calendar for NBA player movement between now and the end of the 2015/16 regular season? You can find them here.
- You can view all the players who are eligible for veteran extensions here.
- Want to keep up to date on all the rumors, signings, trades, and roster moves for all of your favorite baseball, football, and basketball teams? Download the free Trade Rumors app for iOS and Android devices. The Trade Rumors app is highly customizable. You can add feeds for any of the 92 MLB, NBA, and NFL teams, as well as for any of the thousands of players in our archives, by using the settings icon up top for iOS and the pencil icon up top for Android. You can create a multi-sport experience tailored to your specific interests, or you can limit your app entirely to one sport by removing the others.
Warriors Notes: Rush, Barnes, Mitchell
Despite Harrison Barnes and the Warriors not coming to terms on an extension prior to the deadline, Andrew Bogut believes the forward will remain with the team for the long-term, and thinks that the franchise values keeping its core together, Sam Amick of USA Today relays. Discussing Barnes’ contract situation, Bogut told Amick, “Within our group, it hasn’t been a huge distraction. Obviously you want every player to get their max worth. A career is very short, and obviously you want to make it while you can. Harrison is going to be a very rich man regardless of what direction that all goes.”
“These situations [with this kind of collective group] don’t come up very often, so when they’re available you want to milk them for as long as you can,” Bogut continued. “I think our owners and our GM [Bob Myers] understand that, that if you can keep this team together for another four or five years you try everything in your power to do that, rather than trying to all of a sudden put on an ‘I’m smarter than everyone and we’re going to make this big move,’ when it’s really not needed…I don’t think Harrison is going to go anywhere. I think he’s just obviously going to lift his value a little bit more with the new [salary] cap and all that going in.”
Here’s more from Golden State:
- Brandon Rush said he didn’t really feel a part of last season’s championship team, as he averaged only 8.2 minutes per game across 33 appearances, but his minutes are up this year and he’s one of several on the Warriors bench playing about as efficiently as they ever have, observes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Rush, who’s already made seven starts this season, is in the last season of his contract.
- Former Warriors coach Mark Jackson says there’s no reason for him to be upset, even as the Warriors team he coached as recently as 2013/14 reaches new heights, notes Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group. Still, he remains proud of what he accomplished. “I took over a job in Golden State with a bad culture, guys that said they wanted to win, but didn’t want to win,” Jackson said, according to Leung.
- Tony Mitchell, who was with the Warriors during the preseason, has signed with the Venezuelan team Cocodrilos de Caracas, the club announced (hat tip to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Mitchell was with the Pistons for a season and a half until a trade last December sent to the Suns, who waived him shortly thereafter.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
2016/17 Salary Cap Projection: New Orleans Pelicans
The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 has been set at $70MM, which is an 11% increase from last season, and the luxury tax line is fixed at $84.74MM. The last cap projection from the league prior to the official numbers being announced had been $67.1MM, and the projection for the tax line had been $81.6MM. Many league executives and agents believe that the salary cap will escalate to a whopping $95MM for 2016/17, a higher figure than the league’s last projection of $89MM. This significant bump is a result of the league’s new $24 billion TV deal that kicks in just in time for next season.
The increase in the salary cap will almost assuredly set off a flurry of activity in the free agent market next summer, and it will also make it easier than ever for teams to deal away their higher-priced stars. Prudent executives are acutely aware of exactly how much cap room they have to play with, not just for the current campaign, but for next season and beyond as well. While the exact amount of 2016/17’s salary cap won’t be announced until next summer, it always pays to know just how much salary is on the books for each franchise. With this in mind, we at Hoops Rumors will be breaking down the projected 2016/17 financial commitments for each franchise, and we’ll continue onward with a look at the New Orleans Pelicans:
- Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $65,030,848*
- Partially Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $200,000
- Non Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $2,342,734
- Total Projected Salary Cap Commitments: $67,573,582
*Note: This amount includes Alonzo Gee‘s player option worth $1,379,400.
If the salary cap were to fall in line with the projection of $89MM, New Orleans would have approximately $21,426,418 in cap space, or $27,426,418 if the cap were to be set at the higher mark of $95MM. Again, these are merely predictions until the exact cap amounts are announced, and they are not meant to illustrate the exact amount that the team will have available to spend this coming offseason.
Trades and long-term free agent signings made during the season will also have a significant impact on the figures above, and we’ll be updating these posts to reflect the new numbers after any signings and trades have been made official.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Sam Hinkie On Colangelo, Marshall, Free Agents
GM Sam Hinkie pledged to remain with the Sixers, quelling rumors that he’s looking to leave the organization following the arrival of Jerry Colangelo as chairman of basketball operations, as Hinkie said as part of an in-depth interview with Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. “Our owners made it very clear they want me leading us long-term,” Hinkie said. “Adding one more voice will make the conversation richer. Might it be challenging at times? I’m sure it will be. But making big decisions shouldn’t be easy — it shouldn’t be that you have an idea, and you get to execute it without anyone questioning it.” The entire interview is certainly worth a read, and below are some of the highlights:
- The GM said the team was off in its prediction that Kendall Marshall would be ready to play on opening night, with the point guard finally set to make his season debut this evening, Lowe relays. “We predicted it wrong,” Hinkie said. “That’s my fault. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, and I’m sure I’ll make more.”
- The Sixers believe Marshall can provide veteran leadership for younger players like Jahlil Okafor, as well as stabilize the point guard position, Lowe notes. “This has been hard,” Hinkie says. “We haven’t been proud of this kind of start. We had strong desires for a point guard who could help us play at a high tempo, and get our best players the ball in positions where they could be successful. We want someone to throw a post entry pass. We thought Kendall was that guy.“
- Discussing why he has eschewed signing free agents who would have cost more, but likely would have helped the team win more games in the short term, in favor of adding younger players making the minimum salary, Hinkie told Lowe, “We could have chosen safer options. Many in the world would have us choose safer options — keep this player, instead of taking a gamble on a player whose name you don’t know. But when that player becomes Robert Covington, people are excited. We’ve chosen that sort of thing very often.“
- Hinkie acknowledged to Lowe that the Sixers reached out to free agents Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler this past summer, but the lack of an existing star player hamstrung those efforts. “The most challenging part is to go from zero stars to one,” Hinkie said. “After the Clippers got Blake Griffin, Chris Paul is a possibility. After the Rockets had James Harden, Dwight Howard is a possibility. After the Cavaliers have Kyrie Irving, LeBron coming back is a possibility.“
- The GM stands by the organization’s decision to select Joel Embiid and Dario Saric during the 2014 NBA draft, despite the knowledge that the duo would not be immediately available to contribute, Lowe notes. “That night showed tremendous courage on the part of our organization to have a longer view, and to do everything we could to get the best players,” Hinkie told the ESPN scribe. “Those were not easy decisions.”
- Hinkie also maintains that the team selected point guard Elfrid Payton with every intention of keeping him, and that it wasn’t a move designed to pry assets away from the Magic, who were known to be high on Payton entering the draft, Lowe relays. “That’s such a high-stakes gamble that it strikes me as reckless,” said Hinkie. “I’m a lot of things, but I’m not reckless.“
Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 12/10/15
The NBA announced on Wednesday that Hornets center Al Jefferson was suspended for five games without pay for a violation of its anti-drug program. He’ll serve the suspension once he returns from the strained left calf that’s kept him out since the end of last month, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Jefferson, a Jeff Schwartz client, is poised to hit free agency in the summer, so the timing of the suspension certainly isn’t ideal for the big man. The 30-year-old is earning $13.5MM this season in the final year of the three-year, $40.5MM contract he signed with Charlotte back in 2013.
This brings me to the topic for today: What impact, if any, do you think Al Jefferson’s drug-related suspension will have on his upcoming free agency?
Do you believe that Jefferson’s wallet will take a hit when he inks his next deal, or are you of the opinion that teams will overlook the suspension because of Jefferson’s talent level? Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the matter. We look forward to what you have to say.