Wizards To Sign Jason Smith
The Wizards and unrestricted free agent Jason Smith have agreed to a deal, Shams Charania of The Vertical reports (via Twitter). It will be a three-year, $16MM pact, J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com tweets. Smith has a player option for the final season, Michael adds.
The 30-year-old big man spent the 2015/16 campaign with the Magic, appearing in 76 games and averaging 7.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 15.5 minutes per outing. Smith’s shooting line on the year was .485/.250/.806.
In Smith, Washington adds a big man capable of stretching the floor with his shooting when he’s on, though the former No. 20 overall pick (2007, Miami) only owns a career mark of .293 from beyond the arc. His most successful campaign from deep was the 2014/15 season when he nailed 35.7% of his threes for the Knicks. But Smith is certainly a solid addition as a role-player, with Smith set to compete against Andrew Nicholson and Drew Gooden for minutes off the bench next season.
Community Shootaround: Knicks Predictions
Knicks team president Phil Jackson‘s previous two offseasons at the helm of the franchise were underwhelming to say the least. Jackson failed to land another star in free agency to play alongside Carmelo Anthony, and if not for snagging Kristaps Porzingis in the 2015 Draft Lottery, the executive would have failed to add a true impact player during his first two years on the job.
Well, this offseason has certainly been a different story in New York thus far. Jackson has already acquired oft-injured point guard Derrick Rose from Chicago, come to an agreement on a deal with center Joakim Noah, added Brandon Jennings to spell Rose and reached a contract agreement with versatile two-way guard Courtney Lee. The team has also made a number of other low-key additions, agreeing to deals with Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Willy Hernangomez and re-signing combo forward Lance Thomas.
There’s little doubt that New York is an improved club over last year’s version, but the team and its fans should be nervous about how many games the new additions will actually be in uniform for given their respective injury histories. If Rose, Noah and Jennings can remain healthy — which is a BIG if given their track records — the Knicks could be a fun team to watch. Whether or not these moves will translate into a playoff berth is an entirely different question. One that I am posing to you this evening:
How will the Knicks’ new-look roster fare in 2016/17?
Here’s New York’s current projected depth chart, courtesy of RosterResource.com:
Starters: Rose (PG), Lee (SG), Anthony (SF), Porzingis (PF), Noah (C)
Reserves: Jennings, Thomas, Justin Holiday, Kuzminskas, Hernangomez, Kyle O’Quinn.
Are the Knicks a playoff team in 2016/17? If so, give us your win total and postseason seeding predictions. Or, if you think New York will be a bust next season, tell us why and provide us with your loss totals for the squad. We look forward to what you have to say.
Submit Your Questions For Hoops Rumors Mailbag
We at Hoops Rumors love interacting with our readers. This is why we provide an 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.
Kings To Sign Arron Afflalo
5:12pm: The second year is only partially guaranteed for $1.5MM, Sam Amick of USA Today reports (Twitter link).
2:02pm: The Kings and unrestricted free agent shooting guard Arron Afflalo have agreed to a deal that will land him in Sacramento, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (Twitter link). It’s going to be a two-year, $25MM pact for Afflalo, Wojnarowski adds.
There wasn’t much chatter attached to Afflalo prior to this deal coming together. The veteran opted out of his contract with the Knicks and the $8MM he was slated to earn in 2016/17, and the move has paid off with Afflalo increasing his annual salary to $12.5MM courtesy of Sacramento. One would assume he is joining the Kings as a starter, given his reported disdain for the reserve role the Knicks placed him in last season. Though, a $4.5MM per season raise may make coming off the bench more palatable, if that is to be his role.
Afflalo appeared in 71 games for the Knicks in 2015/16 and averaged 12.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 33.4 minutes per outing. He shot .443/.382/.840 from the field on the campaign.
Kings To Sign Anthony Tolliver
The Kings and unrestricted free agent Anthony Tolliver have agreed to a deal, Sam Amick of USA Today reports (Twitter link). It’s a two-year, $16MM pact that is partially guaranteed for $2MM in 2017/18, the scribe adds.
Tolliver made 72 appearances for the Pistons this past season, averaging 5.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 18.6 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .386/.360/.617.
The 31-year-old’s deal is the one of the few handed out since free agency commenced that includes a partial guarantee. But even if by some chance he is released prior to next season as a result of not having a full guarantee, Tolliver will be have pocketed at least $10MM for his efforts, as well as be in line to hit the open market next summer when the cap is expected to increase once again. Not a bad deal for the journeyman, all things considered.
Hoops Rumors Originals 6/26/16-7/2/16
Here’s a look back at the original analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this past week.
- You can now view complete depth charts for every NBA team at Roster Resource, the newest addition to the Trade Rumors family.
- Luke Adams ran down the Top 50 free agents around the league.
- We handed out our 2016 NBA Draft grades to the teams of the Atlantic and Southwest Divisions.
- Will Joseph highlighted some of the better basketball blogs around in his weekly installment of Hoops Links.
- We ran down the unsigned draftees for the teams of the Northwest and Southwest Divisions.
- If you missed any of our daily reader-driven discussions, be sure to check out the Community Shootaround archives.
- Arthur Hill answered reader questions in our Weekly Mailbag.
- Here’s how you can follow Hoops Rumors on social media and RSS feeds.
- We reviewed our commenting policy. Play nice everyone.
- Here’s how you can follow specific players on Hoops Rumors.
Rockets To Sign Ryan Anderson
The Rockets and Ryan Anderson have agreed to terms on a deal that will bring the forward to Houston, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (via Twitter). Anderson’s pact is for four years and $80MM, the scribe adds.
Houston beat out a number of other suitors for the services of the sweet-shooting stretch four. The Kings and Wizards were among the teams vying to ink the 28-year-old, but the opportunity to play alongside James Harden in Houston, and of course, $80MM, snagged Anderson.
Anderson, a former 21st overall pick, has only played more than 66 games once in a season, but is coming off a solid year for the Pelicans. He averaged 17.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, to go along with a shooting line of .427/.366/.873. Anderson’s career numbers through eight NBA seasons are 13.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG and 0.9 APG.
Magic Sign Bismack Biyombo
JULY 7, 10:18am: The Magic have formally announced Biyombo’s signing (via Twitter).
JULY 2, 2:45pm: Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical tweets that the pact will be worth $72MM over four years.
2:27pm: The contract is estimated at four-years and approximately $70MM, per Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
2:15pm: The Magic and unrestricted free agent Bismack Biyombo have come to terms on a deal, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reports (on Twitter). The agreement is for four years, but the amount of the pact has yet to been reported.
Biyombo’s stock rose dramatically during the Eastern Conference playoffs, when his playing time spiked after Jonas Valanciunas was injured. He averaged 5.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks while appearing in every regular-season game, then bumped those averages to 6.2/9.4/1.4 in 20 playoff games. He opted out of his deal and the $2.9MM he was set to earn next season and all but assuredly secured himself a hefty raise as a result.
Toronto reportedly wanted to retain Biyombo, but only held his Non-Bird rights, which meant it would have to use cap room to re-sign him. A number of roster moves designed to free cap space would have been needed to make that a possibility. Moves that the team was either unwilling or unable to make.
The addition of Biyombo, coupled with the trade acquisition of former Thunder forward Serge Ibaka certainly gives Orlando and imposing frontcourt defensively. It remains to be seen if these additions will prompt the team to shop center Nikola Vucevic, whose salary of $12,250,000 is looking more and more like a bargain every day.
Latest On Courtney Lee
The Knicks continue to search for a wing player to add to their roster, and to that end, are still pursuing unrestricted free agent Courtney Lee. New York’s latest offer to Lee was for four-years and approximately $40MM, or to do some quick math, $10MM per season, Ian Begley of ESPN.com reports (ESPN Now link). Phil Jackson and company are also reportedly in the mix for Eric Gordon, with potentially disgruntled Heat star Dwyane Wade lurking as a fallback option.
New York is facing competition for Lee, with the Kings ready to offer the swingman a deal valued at approximately $14MM per season, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops tweets. The Wolves Kings, Nets and Hawks are also reported to be interested in Lee. After agreeing to a deal with center Joakim Noah, the Knicks project to have approximately $12MM in cap space remaining, Begley notes, which could prove problematic for the team if the bidding for Lee escalates.
Lee finished the 2015/16 season with the Hornets, appearing in 28 games after being acquired from Memphis and averaging 8.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists during his time in Charlotte. He shot .445/.392/.885 from the field.
Celtics, Wizards Frontrunners For Al Horford
1:21pm: The Hawks have upped their proposal to include a fifth year, but Atlanta is still not offering Horford a maximum salary, Zach Klein of WSB Atlanta tweets.
10:23am: The competition to sign veteran Al Horford is heating up, with the Celtics and Wizards emerging as the frontrunners to land the big man, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports. Horford is expected to make his final decision this evening and may be in line for a deal valued at four-years and $113MM, adds the Vertical scribe.
The 30-year-old pared down the list of teams he is considering this morning, according to Wojnarowski. Horford has reportedly met with the Rockets and one other unnamed team besides the C’s and Wizards, possibly the Hawks, though the Thunder and several other franchises were also believed to be in the hunt for his services.
The Hawks, who committed more than $140MM to Kent Bazemore and Dwight Howard on Friday, reportedly remain in the hunt for Horford, though Atlanta had yet to pony up a max offer as of late Friday night. Atlanta has reportedly been involved in trade talks that would help the team clear the space necessary to bring back the veteran, if he still wants to return. A Paul Millsap trade is a possibility, with Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com reporting that a trade involving Millsap and Suns draft picks has been “pondered” in recent days.
Horford appeared in all 82 regular season games for Atlanta this past season, averaging 15.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 32.1 minutes per night. His shooting line was .505/.344/.798.
Which team would be a better fit for Horford — Washington or Boston? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.