Celtics Sign Chris Babb To 10-Day Contract
FRIDAY, 11:15am: The Celtics have officially signed Babb, the team announced. The move brings Boston’s roster to 15 players.
THURSDAY, 7:22pm: The Celtics plan to sign guard Chris Babb to a 10-day contract on Friday or Saturday, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Babb has been playing with the Maine Red Claws in the D-League.
Babb went undrafted in 2013, but played in the summer league for the Suns. He then signed with the Celtics on September 30th, 2013, but was subsequently waived by the team on October 26th. He joined the Red Claws on October 31st.
Babb has played in 32 games for the Red claws this season, and has averaged 11.9 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 3.3 APG, and 1.2 SPG, while logging 37.5 MPG.
Western Notes: Clippers, Granger, White
After years of futility and being seen as a less than desirable location to play, the Clippers have officially become a draw for players, writes Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. With the recent signing of Glen Davis and the team possibly inking Danny Granger, it definitely is a departure from the past. The fact that a veteran player in pursuit of a championship ring would consider signing a minimum deal to join the Clippers over teams like the Spurs and the Heat is yet another example of how far the Clippers have come as both contenders on the court and in the minds of players as a destination franchise, opines Markazi. Doc Rivers, weighing in on the matter, said, “I don’t know if we’re going to make it THE destination, but we want it to be one of them. That’s our goal. Bringing in Big Baby when he could have gone to a lot of other places was a good thing. Darren Collison could have gone to a lot of other places and came here. At the end of the day we just have to keep being a good basketball team and the rest of the stuff will follow. I think the key to this is showing that we have a shot and we’re a good team. Players follow that. They’ll go anywhere for that.”
More from the west:
- Speaking of Granger, he is expected to make a decision on Friday, and the Clippers are his likely destination, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
- In a video for the Journal Times, Gery Woelfel says the Jazz were considering Nate Wolters for the 21st overall pick last summer. Wolters wound up going 38th overall and has been a mainstay for the Bucks this season.
- The Kings have been entertaining the idea of signing Royce White to a 10-day contract. Tom Ziller of SB Nation details the reasons why this pairing could work out, and also looks at some possibilities for why the Sixers traded for him this past summer.
- Rockets center Greg Smith is going to have surgery on his knee, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. It is unknown if and when he will return to the court this season.
- A scout claims the Timberwolves tried to trade J.J. Barea at the deadline because team executives want Ricky Rubio finishing games, writes Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required). The scout also weighs in on why he thinks Rubio is overrated as a player.
Eastern Notes: Sixers, Anthony, Johnson
The Sixers wound up with only a second-round pick in return for Evan Turner, thanks to their buyout deal with Danny Granger, but a team offered GM Sam Hinkie a first-rounder for Turner at last year’s draft, according to Tom Moore of Calkins Media (Twitter link). With Granger now waived, the team came away with a significantly lower return for Turner at the trade deadline.
More from the east:
- Carmelo Anthony says whether or not the Knicks make the playoffs this year won’t be among a litany of on-court and off-court factors that will play into his contract decision this summer, as Mark Berman of the New York Post examines.
- The Hawks and Antawn Jamison had mutual interest in a parting of ways when the team waived him shortly after the trade deadline last week, as Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders writes.
- The multiyear contract that Chris Johnson signed with the Celtics was originally reported as a three-year deal, but it’s actually a four-year arrangement that runs through 2016/17. Only this season is guaranteed (Twitter link).
- Mark Montieth of Pacers.com, in his mailbag column, casts the likelihood of Orlando Johnson returning to the Pacers this summer as greater than the odds of Indiana reuniting with Danny Granger.
- The Bucks are eyeing D-Leaguers and the overseas market for someone who can fill Caron Butler’s roster spot on a 10-day contract, tweeted Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
D-League Notes: Blazers, Mavs, Hamilton
The Blazers are ending their one-to-one affiliation with the D-League’s Idaho Stampede and will share an affiliate with other NBA teams next season, reports Joe Freeman of the Oregonian. GM Neil Olshey prefers to let Portland’s assistant coaches develop talent rather than farm the job out, as Freeman explains.
More D-League news:
- The Mavs have assigned Jae Crowder, Bernard James and Shane Larkin to the D-League, and they’ve recalled Ricky Ledo, the team announced. It’ll be a one-game stint for the trio of assignees, notes Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who first reported the moves (Twitter links).
- Xavier Henry will see those three Mavs tonight when the affiliates for Dallas and the Lakers meet up, since the Lakers have sent Henry to the D-League, the team announced. It’s a rehab assignment for Henry, who’s been out since December 29th, tweets Mike Trudell of Lakers.com.
- The Wizards Otto Porter had been mentioned as a candidate to head to the D-League, but that looks less likely to happen now, writes J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. Porter is needed for depth in case Martell Webster or Trevor Ariza suffer an illness or an injury. The team might also resist sending him down as not to damage his confidence, opines Michael.
- Dakota Schmidt of SB Nation profiles Sioux Falls 7-footer Justin Hamilton, and thinks that he is the most talented big man still available to make the jump to the NBA. The former second-round pick out of LSU has developed quite the offensive arsenal and could be the next player to land a 10-day contract, opines Schmidt.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Glen Davis Signs With Clippers
The Clippers have officially announced their signing of Glen Davis. The team was considered the frontrunner for Davis thanks to his ties to coach Doc Rivers, for whom Davis played with the Celtics, plus the power forward’s desire to play for a contender. Davis, whose contract covers the rest of the season, is the only player on the Clippers roster to have won an NBA title. A number of other teams, including the Nets, Bulls, Heat, Spurs, and Warriors, were als
o interested in signing Davis.
After deciding not to extend Sasha Vujacic another 10-day contract and trading Antawn Jamison and Byron Mullens, the Clippers roster stood at 12 before the addition of Davis. The roster flexibility was created in part to give the Clippers the opportunity to sign players on the buyout market, like Davis, who’s a client of John Hamilton of Performance Sports Management.
Orlando was trying to trade Davis at the deadline but was unable to find a taker. Davis is due the remainder of his $6.4MM salary this season and $6.6MM in 2014/15. The 28-year-old is coming off of a year in which he averaged 15.1 PPG and 7.2 RPG with a 15.0 PER in an injury-shortened 2012/13. So far in 2013/14, Davis has been hampered by injuries. He’s averaged 12.1 PPG and 6.3 RPG in 30.1 minutes per contest this season.
According to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter Link), the Magic didn’t use the stretch provision on Davis, and are taking the full hit on his $6.6MM salary during the 2014/2015 season. Kyler also tweeted that the team had told Davis last weekend of its intention to negotiate a buyout of his contract and waive him. It hasn’t been announced how much, if any, of his salary he relinquished in the buyout.
Zach Links contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports first reported that Davis had a deal, and that it covered the rest of the season. Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times noted that Davis was set to take a physical and sign with the team today (Twitter link).
Jason Collins Signs 10-Day Contract With Nets
2:16pm: The Nets announced the deal via press release, making it official.
12:07pm: Jason Collins has reached an agreement on a 10-day contract with the Nets, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. This makes Collins the first openly gay athlete to play in one of the four major professional sports. Collins revealed he is a homosexual after finishing last season with the Wizards. According to Wojnarowski, Collins will be in uniform and available to play tonight against the Lakers at the Staples Center.
After Glen Davis decided to sign with the Clippers, the Nets moved onto Plan B, which was bringing Collins back into the NBA, according to the article. Financial details have not been disclosed, nor has the team officially announced the signing. Collins is represented by Arn Tellem of Wasserman Media Group.
Collins, 35, has been out of the NBA since completing the 2012/13 season with the Wizards. Collins played parts of seven years with the Nets between 2001-08, and his ex-teammate, Jason Kidd, now the Nets coach, has been in favor of signing him. Collins played with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce with the Celtics during the 2012/2013 season, and both players have been advocates for bringing him to Brooklyn.
In 713 career games, the 35-year old has averaged 3.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 0.9 APG, in 20.8 MPG. The Nets have been in search of a big man since before the trade deadline passed on Thursday, and that need was heightened after sending Reggie Evans to the Kings as part of the trade that brought Marcus Thornton to Brooklyn.
Zach Links contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Poll: Which Deadline Trade Will Have Biggest Impact?
In spite of all the big names that were talked about being moved prior to this year’s trade deadline, only one “big” trade actually happened. That was the Sixers Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen heading to the Pacers in exchange for Danny Granger and a 2015 second-round pick. Outside of this trade, the other deadline moves involved lesser names. No Carmelo Anthony, Thaddeus Young, or Rajon Rondo blockbuster deals that could instantly change the face of a franchise. But even lesser trades can have a huge impact on the playoff races, as well as prove to be the difference once a team is locked into a tough playoff series.
As a refresher, here are some of the deals that were made:
- The Wizards acquired Andre Miller in a three-team deal that also saw the Nuggets receive Jan Vesely and Sixers receive Eric Maynor plus two second-round picks.
- The Warriors acquired Steve Blake from the Lakers in exchange for Kent Bazemore and MarShon Brooks.
- The Bobcats acquired Gary Neal and Luke Ridnour from the Bucks in exchange for Ramon Sessions and Jeff Adrien.
- The Nuggets sent Jordan Hamilton to the Rockets for Aaron Brooks.
- The Nets acquired Marcus Thornton from the Kings for Jason Terry and Reggie Evans. Terry is out for the season to rehab his ailing knee.
- The Spurs and Raptors swapped Nando De Colo and Austin Daye.
Which of these deals do you think will have the biggest impact on this season’s quest for an NBA title? I’m omitting the Granger-Turner swap from the poll because it was easily the biggest trade of the deadline, and the Pacers are one of the teams that are heavily favored to win the crown. Feel free to sound off in the comments section below as to why you believe a particular deal will have the biggest impact.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Eastern Notes: Heat, Iverson, Miller
The Heat essentially stood pat at the trade deadline. Outside of shipping Roger Mason Jr. to the Kings for a highly protected second-round pick, they didn’t do much to add to their rotation. The next few weeks could be as intriguing as some of the past offseasons have been for the Heat when it comes to personnel and rounding out the bench, as the team sorely needs to add some depth, writes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. Winderman believes the team needs to add another wing player amid the current shaky shooting from both Shane Battier and Ray Allen.
More from around the east:
- The Celtics continue to keep close tabs on Colton Iverson, the team’s second round pick in 2013, writes Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe. The 7-footer is playing with Besiktas of the Turkish League, and in 18 games, he’s averaging 6.5 PPG, 5.6 RPG and 3.1 APG over 17.3 MPG. Iverson is playing overseas because the Celtics didn’t have enough room on their roster to keep him after the draft, but the team likes his aggressive play, and he still factors into their future plans, opines Holmes.
- Carmelo Anthony was surprised at the news the Knicks would be buying out the contracts of Beno Udrih and Metta World Peace, writes Matt Winkeljohn of ESPNNewYork.com. Anthony stated, “It’s sad to see them go, but this is the business of basketball … it happened, and we’ve got to move on. The buyouts kind of surprised me because [Friday] Metta seemed like he was in a good place. He was happy, he played . . . he was a different Metta.”
- Andre Miller scored five points, and dished out three assists in his first game with the Wizards. They’re not huge numbers, but he is already making a big impact with his new team, writes J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. The team’s rotation has changed, and the offense ran smoother than it had been when John Wall was off the court, but Miller’s biggest contribution may be him mentoring Wall, opines Michael. Wall stated, “That’s a guy you can learn from. It’s a guy that loves the game and is still playing at 37. I hope I can be playing at 37.“
Western Notes: Rockets, Nash, Brooks
Rockets GM Daryl Morey is high on the athleticism and skill of trade acquisition Jordan Hamilton, as Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle observes. “He is really a highly-regarded prospect and hasn’t had a chance to emerge,” Morey said. “That is usually the kind of guy we do really well with, catch him before they get a chance and see them flourish with us.” Hamilton averaged 6.8 PPG and 3.4 RPG per game this season for the Nuggets and started 11 games.
More from out west:
- In the same article, Creech also details that Aaron Brooks calls his decision not to exercise his veto power on the trade that sent him to the Nuggets a “leap of faith.”
- The Rockets have recalled Isaiah Canaan from the RGV Vipers in the D-League, tweeted Jason Friedman of Rockets.com. Canaan has appeared in five games for the Rockets and averaged 1.2 PPG this season.
- The Warriors have announced the assignment of Ognjen Kuzmic to the Santa Cruz Warriors of the D-League. Kuzmic has averages of 6.1 PPG, 10.2 RPG and 21.4 MPG in nine games for Santa Cruz this season. He has appeared in 17 games for Golden State, and averaged 0.5 PPG, and 0.7 RPG.
- Steve Nash has only appeared in 10 games for the Lakers this season. With all his injury woes, GM Mitch Kupchak noted that “obviously it’s going to be a challenge” on whether Nash can return and stay on the court. The GM says that after the season it will be Nash’s decision on whether he returns for another year, and that it would be “unethical” for the team to influence him one way or another, writes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Because he’s played 10 games this season, Nash’s $9.7MM salary next season will remain on the Lakers’ books even if he is forced into medical retirement because of back issues.
- Sam Amick of USA Today details how the Warriors acquisition of Steve Blake will pay dividends come playoff time. Playoff success is especially vital to coach Mark Jackson who has only one year left on his contract and the pressure is believed to be building around him and the team to have a deep run, writes Amick.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Wizards Notes: Maynor, Davis, Jamison
The Wizards saw trading Eric Maynor as an “imperative,” a source tells J. Michael of CSNWashington. That’s a strong indictment of his play, since Michael notes that Maynor didn’t cause trouble in the locker room. Maynor was never the team’s first choice last summer when they were seeking a backup for John Wall, he was just the first to accept their offer, writes Michael. Now that Andre Miller is on the roster, the team believes they have found the right player for them.
More on the Wizards:
- The Wizards have a “lukewarm” interest in Antawn Jamison now that the Hawks have officially waived him, tweets J. Michael. The team will wait and see what other players are available prior to making a decision on Jamison.
- J. Michael also tweeted that Glen Davis isn’t likely to be in the Wizards plans. He thinks Davis is most likely to sign with the Clippers.
- Miller commented on his difficulties with former coach Brian Shaw, in an article by the Associated Press. Miller stated, “It was just an instance where I kind of lost my cool and was a little bit unprofessional and stepped out of character. And I apologized to my teammates for what happened. That’s not me. That’s not what I’m about.“
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.