Latest On Luc Mbah a Moute
The Kings still hold some level of interest in signing Luc Mbah a Moute, league sources have told James Ham of CowbellKingdom.com (Twitter link). The forward had previously agreed to a one-year, $1.55MM deal with Sacramento, but it was voided when Mbah a Moute failed his physical. The forward has an undisclosed shoulder issue according to team executive Vlade Divac, which is what caused Mbah a Moute to fail that exam, Rui Thomas of CowbellKingdom.com tweets.
While the Kings may indeed still have interest, there may not be a roster spot for the 28-year-old. Sacramento’s current roster count sits at 15, including 11 fully guaranteed deals. While teams can carry up to 20 players until opening night, franchises are required to pare down that number to 15 for the regular season. With the Kings officially signing Quincy Acy today, the addition of Mbah a Moute could be considered redundant since both players man the same position. The 2008 second-rounder out of UCLA has also expressed interest in returning to Philadelphia.
Mbah a Moute made 67 appearances for the Sixers last season, including 61 as a starter. He averaged 9.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.0 assist to go along with a slash line of .395/.307/.589. His career numbers through seven NBA seasons, which include stints with the Kings and Bucks, are 6.8 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 1.0 APG.
Rockets Sign Sam Dekker
The Rockets have signed first round pick Sam Dekker to a rookie scale deal, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). Dekker was the No. 18 overall selection in this year’s NBA Draft. The addition of the forward will raise Houston’s current roster count to 11, all of which are fully guaranteed, though that number doesn’t include Marcus Thornton, whose deal has yet to be made official.
Dekker will earn more than $1.646MM this coming season in the first year of a four-year deal, presuming he receives the standard 120% of the rookie scale, which is most likely the case. The forward will likely take home $1,720,560 in 2016/17, $1,794,600 in 2017/18, and $2,760,095 in the contract’s final season.
In three seasons at Wisconsin, Dekker posted averages of 12.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.3 assists. His career shooting line was .493/.348/.695.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Smith, Hibbert
New Lakers Roy Hibbert, Lou Williams and Brandon Bass had an incredulous silence when asked in a press conference today whether they’d heard from new teammate Kobe Bryant, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com shows via Instagram. Indeed, none of the three have heard from or touched base with the Lakers star, notes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Twitter link).
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Forward Josh Smith said that he considered joining the Clippers last season after he was waived by the Pistons, Bill Oram of The Orange County Register writes. “It was an option,” Smith said. “It was a definite thought process and conversation I had with my family.” Smith instead signed with the Rockets, but now comes to Los Angeles on a one-year, minimum salary arrangement.
- When asked why he chose to sign with the Clippers, Smith indicated that it came down to having a defined role, something he didn’t feel that he had in Houston, Melissa Rohlin of The Los Angeles Times relays. “We did some special things in Houston but it was more of a visual, concrete type of situation-scenario for me here,” Smith said. “When you have vision and it’s not kind of foggy on what’s your role and your purpose on the team, you got to make a decision you feel is best. My whole thing was I was looking at scenarios more so than being wowed by red-carpet layouts.”
- New Lakers center Hibbert waived part of his 15% trade kicker to join the team, a move he considered a “no brainer” because the franchise made it known that they wanted him, something the Pacers did not do, Medina tweets. The big man gave back all but $78,185 of what otherwise would have been a $2.3MM payout for being dealt. Hibbert had moved to Los Angeles at the end of last season, knowing he would likely be dealt away from Indiana, though he didn’t know it would be to the Lakers, Oram adds (Twitter link).
Northwest Notes: Lawson, Contract Details, Exum
Nuggets team president Josh Kroenke told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that the team had been privately trying to help Ty Lawson with his drinking issues for the past couple of years and that there had been problems for a long time. Kroenke indicated that he had repeated conversations with Lawson about his struggles, and noted that Lawson often said he would attempt to fix his issues but he could never fully shake them, Spears adds. Lawson was recently traded to the Rockets.
“He always had an affinity for burning the candle at both ends,” Kroenke said. “We want to give our players freedom to be young guys as well. We’re not going to be drill sergeants. But we want our guys to be able to handle their personal lives on their own. Ty … there were times when he was better than others. But the problems have been there for several years, going back to when we were having a lot of on-court success. I don’t want to go back too far. There were just a lot of times where you were at practice and you just know. You could smell it. You know there is probably deeper issues than he would probably let on.”
Here’s more out of the Northwest Division:
- GM Tim Connelly said it was a difficult choice for the Nuggets to trade Lawson, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “It was a tough day,” said Connelly. “Ty was a huge part of our success here. He’s certainly one of the really talented lead guards. Sometimes a change of scenery is best for both parties. Where we were, it made sense to make the move.“
- Raul Neto‘s three-year pact with the Jazz will see him earn $900K for the 2015/16 season, $937,800 the following season, and $1,014,746 during the 2017/18 campaign, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Joe Ingles‘ two-year deal with Utah will pay him $2.150MM for each season, Pincus adds.
- Al-Farouq Aminu‘s contract with the Blazers will pay him $8,042,995 this season, $7,680,956 in 2016/17, $7,319,035 the following year, and $6,957,105 in 2018/19, Pincus relays (on Twitter). Ed Davis‘ three-year deal will pay him $6,980,802, $6,666,667, and $6,352,531 respectively, notes Pincus.
- Jazz point guard Dante Exum knows that he needs to improve his outside shooting if he hopes to emerge as a star in the NBA, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders writes. “I think just the consistency of it, being straight, being on target, even if I’m not making them—as long as it’s still a good looking shot and it feels good,” Exum said regarding the progress that he has made over the summer. “I think that’s the most important thing. … Once it gets into the game and I start playing one-on-one and five-on-five that I get that carryover.”
2015/16 Roster Counts: Toronto Raptors
During the offseason it’s OK for teams to carry as many as 20 players, but clubs must trim their rosters down to a maximum of 15 by opening night. In the meantime, some teams will hang around that 15-man line, while others will max out their roster counts. Some clubs may actually have more than 15 contracts that are at least partially guaranteed on the books. That means they’ll end up paying players who won’t be on the regular season roster, unless they can find trade partners.
With plenty more movement still to come, here’s the latest look at the Raptors’ roster size, the contract guarantee status of each player, and how each player came to be on Toronto’s roster.
(Last Updated 2-29-16, 7:25am)
Fully Guaranteed (15)
- Bismack Biyombo (F/C) — 6’9″/22 years old. Free agent signing.
- Bruno Caboclo (F) — 6’9″/19 years old. Drafted with No. 20 overall pick in 2014.
- DeMarre Carroll (F) — 6’8″/28 years old. Free agent signing.
- DeMar DeRozan (G/F) — 6’7″/25 years old. Drafted with No. 9 overall pick in 2009.
- James Johnson (F) — 6’9″/28 years old. Free agent signing.
- Cory Joseph (G) — 6’3″/23 years old. Free agent signing.
- Kyle Lowry (G) — 6’0″/29 years old. Acquired via trade from Rockets.
- Lucas Nogueira (C) — 7’0″/22 years old. Draft rights acquired via Hawks.
- Patrick Patterson (F) — 6’9″/26 years old. Acquired via trade from Kings.
- Norman Powell (G) — 6’4″/22 years old. Draft rights acquired via Bucks.
- Terrence Ross (F) — 6’7″/24 years old. Drafted with No. 8 overall pick in 2012.
- Luis Scola (F) — 6’9″/35 years old. Free agent signing.
- Jason Thompson (F) — 6’11″/29 years old. Free agent signing.
- Jonas Valanciunas (C) — 7’0″/23 years old. Drafted with No. 5 overall pick in 2011.
- Delon Wright (G) — 6’5″/23 years old. Drafted with No. 20 overall pick in 2015.
10-Day Contracts (0)
- None
TOTAL ROSTER COUNT (15)
Kings Sign Seth Curry
7:41pm: The signing is official, Sacramento announced.
WEDNESDAY, 7:50am: The deal is for the minimum, according to Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link). That makes it worth $1,962,972, slightly less than $2MM, and more importantly, it means Sacramento doesn’t have to use its room exception on him, as former Nets executive Bobby Marks surmised (Twitter link).
TUESDAY, 7:40pm: The Kings have reached an agreement with unrestricted free agent Seth Curry, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. It is going to be a two-year, $2MM pact, Wojnarowski adds. Both years will be fully guaranteed, and the second year is a player option, Wojnarowski tweets. ESPN’s Marc Stein first reported (on Twitter) that the two sides were nearing a deal.
The 24-year-old has spent most of his time in the NBA D-League, and has inked 10-day contracts with the Cavs, Grizzlies, and Suns over the past two seasons. Curry has only appeared in a total of four NBA contests, and his averages are 0.8 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 5.3 minutes per contest.
The Pelicans were rumored to be close to giving a guaranteed deal to Curry, who played extremely well in the Las Vegas Summer League. Curry played for New Orleans’ squad in Vegas, averaging 24.3 points per contest on 45.9% shooting.
Warriors Rescind Qualifying Offer To Kuzmic
The Warriors have withdrawn their $1,147,276 qualifying offer to Ognjen Kuzmic, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). He’s now become an unrestricted free agent, as Golden State has forfeited its right to match offers for him. The Warriors were facing a deadline, as Thursday is the final day that a team may withdraw a qualifying offer to a player without his consent.
The two sides can still strike a deal, but the Warriors can no longer prevent Kuzmic from joining another NBA squad. There hasn’t been much chatter regarding any NBA teams being interested in the seven-footer’s services, though now that the ability for Golden State to match any offers is gone, the market could pick up for Kuzmic. The Mavs are still in need of frontcourt depth, and could give the big man a look, though that is merely my speculation.
Kuzmic appeared in just 16 games for the Warriors last season, averaging 1.3 points and 1.1 rebounds in 4.5 minutes per contest. The 25-year-old spent the bulk of last season in the D-League playing for Golden State’s affiliate. Kuzmic played in 29 contests for Santa Cruz, logging 12.8 PPG, 12.0 RPG, and 2.0 BPG with a slash line of .493/.000/.772.
Mitch Kupchak On: Russell, Hibbert, Upshaw
The Lakers held a press conference earlier today where the team officially introduced offseason acquisitions Lou Williams, Brandon Bass, and Roy Hibbert to members to the Los Angeles media. GM Mitch Kupchak answered a number of questions regarding the franchise, hat tip to NBA.com, and shown below are some of the highlights:
When asked what impact Bass, Williams, and Hibbert can have on the team, Kupchak said:
“It’s a tough league. It’s a tough conference. We’ve tried to do our best to identify and create a young core, and also bring some veteran players around a young group. Not only can those veteran players hopefully contribute, but they have solid character, and they can be mentors for our young players. We’re gonna do our best to win as many games as possible, and it’s very difficult to do that with all young players. So part of what we tried to do was surround our young players with some veteran players that would be good mentors and also give us a chance to win a bunch of games.”
Discussing the performance of No. 2 overall pick D’Angelo Russell in Summer League play, Kupchak said:
“I think he learned a lot. I met with him once or twice since Summer League ended, and he knows that to make the next jump in this league he’s going to have to work awfully hard and get in the gym every day, work on his body. I think they all understand that what happened in college is now behind them. This is the real deal. It’s great to get drafted in the first round. It’s great to get drafted [in round] two. But that’s over now. Now it’s time to put that behind you and prove yourself in this league. There’s no other way to prove yourself now other than to perform.”
On undrafted big man Robert Upshaw’s future with the team, the GM said:
“It’s unlikely that Robert will contribute to the team next year to win games. I think you know Robert and how he’s bounced around at the college level. He’s a player that we looked at in Summer League, and we’re continuing to have conversations with his representative. If we did something with Robert, it would be based on potential going forward. … We’ve made commitments to some rookies because they got drafted very high. But to look at a guy that wasn’t drafted and say, “This is a guy that’s gonna be in the rotation.” That’s not realistic at all.”
When addressing the Lakers’ depth at guard, Kupchak said:
“We’re talking about it internally right now. If you look at Nick Young and Kobe Bryant as backcourt players, then we have six. But we may look at those guys at the three spot, and then you only have four. And one of those four would be Jabari Brown, so now you’re really down to three: D’Angelo, Jordan Clarkson and Lou. So, depending on how you look at it, we may look to bring another guard on board. We may not.”
On the team’s overall size in the frontcourt, Kupchak said:
“We’re not a big team. We have Roy, clearly who’s big. Then we have Robert [Upshaw], who’s 7-foot, and our next-tallest player is Ryan Kelly, who really at 6’10” or 6’11” is a stretch four. You wouldn’t expect him to block shots and get 15 rebounds and patrol the paint. So really, if you look at our team, you can make an argument that we don’t have big players.“
Spurs Sign Jimmer Fredette
5:02pm: The signing is official, the Spurs announced via a press release.
4:25pm: The Spurs and unrestricted free agent Jimmer Fredette are finalizing a deal that would bring the guard to San Antonio, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links) classifies it as a training camp deal that includes a modest financial guarantee.
San Antonio is seeking to boost its outside scoring, and a partially guaranteed deal will allow the team to see how Fredette fits within its system. The Spurs already have 13 guaranteed contracts on the books for next season, so it’s a long shot that the 26-year-old makes the team. Fredette had been considering an offer from Italy’s Olimpia Milano to play overseas.
Fredette made 50 appearances for the Pelicans last season, averaging 3.6 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 10.2 minutes per contest. His slash line was .380/.188/.956.
Spurs Sign Jonathon Simmons
JULY 22ND, 4:35pm: The signing is official, the team announced via a press release.
JULY 10TH, 4:21pm: The Spurs have reached an agreement with unrestricted free agent Jonathon Simmons, Shams Charania of RealGM reports. It will be a two-year pact worth the minimum, and it includes a team option for the second season. Simmons’ 2015/16 salary will be fully guaranteed, Charania adds.
The 25-year-old swingman went undrafted out of the University of Houston in 2012. Simmons made 29 appearances for the Cougars back in 2011/12, averaging 14.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.2 assists, with a slash line of .512/.386/.721.
Simmons has spent the last two seasons playing for the Austin Spurs in the NBA D-League. His D-League numbers last season were 15.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 3.6 APG. His most recent action came as a member of the Nets’ Summer League squad in Orlando.