Noah Vonleh Expected To Join Shanghai Sharks
Free agent forward Noah Vonleh is expected to sign with the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association, sources tell Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
Vonleh, 26, was the ninth overall pick in the 2014 draft. Since entering the NBA, he has appeared in a total of 339 regular season games for Charlotte, Portland, Chicago, New York, Minnesota, Denver, and Brooklyn.
However, the 6’10” forward hasn’t been a regular rotation player for an NBA club since the 2018/19 season, when he averaged 8.4 PPG and 7.8 RPG in 68 games (25.3 MPG) for the Knicks. Vonleh was out of the NBA for most of 2020/21, having spent just a couple weeks in February with the Nets before being waived. He appeared in four games for Brooklyn.
For much of the offseason, the Chinese Basketball Association hadn’t permitted its teams to add foreign players due to coronavirus-related concerns. However, now that the league has opted to play its 2021/22 season in a bubble, foreign players will be allowed in the CBA.
Shanghai hasn’t wasted any time in taking advantage of the rule changes, having already agreed to a deal with ex-NBA wing Jamaal Franklin. Carchia reports that the Sharks are also expected to bring back former NBA lottery pick Jimmer Fredette, who has spent most of the last five seasons in Shanghai.
Southeast Notes: Heat, Wizards, Hornets, G League
The Heat‘s addition of Kyle Lowry represented one of the biggest splashes of the NBA offseason, and the team’s five-year commitment to Duncan Robinson and signing of P.J. Tucker were also major moves. Those transactions helped earn Miami a grade of A-minus from Zach Harper of The Athletic for the team’s offseason work.
Although Harper believes the Heat got better this summer, he suggests the club still has a couple holes on its roster, arguing that another lead guard to back up Lowry and another reliable outside shooter would be worthwhile additions. Unfortunately, Miami already has 14 players on guaranteed contracts and doesn’t have room to add a 15th right now without going into the tax. However, if Victor Oladipo gets healthy in the second half, he could provide much of what the Heat are missing.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- In past seasons, the Heat have made their two-way contract slots available in an open competition, but they decided to fill them early this year by signing Marcus Garrett and Caleb Martin. As Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald write, those two-way players will help provide wing depth while Oladipo recovers.
- The Wizards drastically improved their rebounding numbers last season, but they’ll be missing Robin Lopez‘s box-out talents and will no longer have the league’s best rebounding point guard (Russell Westbrook) in 2021/22. With that in mind, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington explores how the team can avoid a significant drop-off in the rebounding department.
- The Hornets have added Norm Richardson to James Borrego‘s coaching staff, league sources tell Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). A former NBA player, Richardson has spent most of the last several years as a G League assistant in Erie and Fort Wayne.
- The Hornets also named a new G League head coach, announcing in press release that Jordan Surenkamp – formerly the head video coordinator in Charlotte – will coach the Greensboro Swarm.
Celtics Sign Juwan Morgan
SEPTEMBER 15: Morgan officially signed his training camp contract with the Celtics on Tuesday, per RealGM’s transactions log.
SEPTEMBER 8: The Celtics have agreed to a deal with Juwan Morgan, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, who reports that the free agent forward will compete for a spot in training camp with the team.
A former Big Ten standout at Indiana, Morgan went undrafted in 2019 and caught on with the Jazz, first signing an Exhibit 10 deal with Utah and then agreeing to a multiyear deal with the team. In 50 total regular season games with the club across two seasons, the 24-year-old averaged 1.4 PPG and 1.1 RPG on 51.8% shooting in just 5.6 minutes per contest.
Although Morgan didn’t see much NBA action for the Jazz and didn’t receive a qualifying offer earlier this summer, he did actually crack the starting lineup in two games during the 2020 postseason due to injuries, and he was a starter for the Salt Lake City Stars during the 2019/20 G League season. He put up 14.3 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 1.7 SPG, and 1.6 BPG in 15 games (27.4 MPG) for the Stars.
Once Boston’s acquisition of Juan Hernangomez is complete, the club will have 14 players on guaranteed contracts, plus Jabari Parker with a small partial guarantee. Morgan would have to make a pretty strong impression during the preseason to crack the 15-man roster, but the Celtics do have a two-way slot open alongside Sam Hauser.
NBA Won’t Mandate COVID-19 Vaccines For Players
NBA players won’t be mandated to receive COVID-19 vaccinations, league sources tell Baxter Holmes and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The news doesn’t come as a major surprise. While other NBA personnel – including referees – are required to be fully vaccinated for the start of the season, imposing such a mandate on players would’ve meant negotiating the issue with the NBPA. That aspect of negotiations between the league and the players’ union has been considered a “non-starter,” per Holmes and Wojnarowski.
Although there won’t be a mandate in place, a league spokesperson recently said that about 85% of the NBA’s players are fully vaccinated, according to ESPN’s duo, and the league will continue to implement strict testing protocols for unvaccinated players.
Besides potentially having to eat and travel in different sections than their vaccinated teammates, unvaccinated players will be required to register one negative COVID-19 test on each practice or travel day and two negatives tests on each game day, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Fully vaccinated players won’t undergo regular coronavirus testing, Charania notes.
While most NBA players will still be able to play in games without being fully vaccinated, that won’t be the case for those based in cities like New York and San Francisco, where there are new laws about vaccinations for indoor gatherings. We outlined earlier this month how Knicks, Nets, and Warriors players would be affected by those regulations, and ESPN’s report today reiterates that the NBA will abide by those local vaccination requirements unless a player has an approved medical or religious exemption.
Rockets, John Wall Agree To Hold Him Out Of Games, Seek Trade
2:42pm: The Rockets don’t want to give up any first-round picks in a Wall trade, according to MacMahon. Realistically, the only way for Houston to avoid attaching a first-rounder would be to take back one or two unwanted contracts in the deal.
MacMahon adds that the Rockets wouldn’t want to engage in buyout talks until possibly the 2022 offseason.
12:31pm: The Rockets and John Wall have agreed to work together to try to find a new home for the veteran point guard, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic. Wall didn’t explicitly ask to be traded, but he isn’t part of Houston’s long-term plans, tweets Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston.
As Charania explains, the Rockets’ intention is for Wall to remain around the team, starting with training camp in two weeks, but he won’t play in games for Houston this season.
In a recent meeting between the two sides, team officials explained to Wall that they want to protect his health and avoid jeopardizing his fitness, which led them to agree to this plan, according to Charania, who adds that the club and the 31-year-old see “eye-to-eye” on the issue. As long as he remains around the team, the Rockets believe Wall’s veteran leadership will have a positive impact on youngsters like Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr., per Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link).
Sources tell Charania that the Rockets aren’t looking to negotiate a buyout of the two years and $91.7MM left on Wall’s contract, and are focused for now on finding a deal on the trade market. Given Wall’s pricey cap hits ($44.3MM this season, with a $47.4MM player option for 2022/23) and his injury history, he has negative trade value, so Houston would almost certainly have to attach assets to find a taker.
It’s unclear how much appetite the rebuilding Rockets will have to surrender future draft picks in order to move Wall. Even though they landed several first-rounders and pick swaps in last season’s James Harden trade, they don’t have a huge surplus of future selections, having previously sent out a pair of future first-rounders in their deal for Russell Westbrook.
Wall’s trade value should at least be a little higher than it was a year ago, when he was coming off a 2019/20 season fully lost to an Achilles injury. In 2020/21, he appeared in 40 games for the Rockets (32.2 MPG), averaging 20.6 PPG, 6.9 APG, and 3.2 RPG, albeit with a modest .404/.317/.749 shooting line.
As they explore their trade options for Wall, the Rockets will have to lean more heavily on Porter and D.J. Augustin. Charania indicates the team has also held discussions with free agent point guards in recent days, suggesting another player could be added to the mix at the position.
The Rockets currently have a full 20-man offseason roster, but only 14 of those players are on fully guaranteed standard contracts, so they could open up the final spot on their 15-man regular season roster for a point guard, if they so choose.
Pelicans Signing Jared Harper, James Banks To Camp Deals
The Pelicans are signing free agent guard Jared Harper and big man James Banks III to training camp deals, agent Kshaun Daley of Verus Basketball tells our JD Shaw (Twitter link).
Harper, who is celebrating his 24th birthday today, was on a two-way contract with the Suns during his rookie season in 2019/20, then spent most of the ’20/21 campaign on a two-way deal with the Knicks. The former Auburn standout saw limited NBA action in those two seasons, logging just 24 total minutes in 11 games, but he played regularly at the G League level.
In 46 total games for the Westchester Knicks and Northern Arizona Suns from 2019-21, Harper averaged 20.5 PPG and 5.9 APG on .429/.370/.802 shooting in 30.0 minutes per contest.
Banks, meanwhile, went undrafted out of Georgia Tech in 2020 after making the ACC All-Defensive Team in both his junior and senior seasons. The 6’10” center spent his first professional season in Israel with Hapoel Be’er Sheva, then suited up for the Cavaliers at the Las Vegas Summer League last month.
The Pelicans currently have 18 players under contract, including 15 on guaranteed deals, one on a non-guaranteed contract (Wenyen Gabriel), and two on two-way deals (Jose Alvarado and Daulton Hommes). Signing Harper and Banks will bring New Orleans to the 20-man preseason limit, though the team has also reportedly reached a deal with Malcolm Hill, so more moves are likely on the way before opening night.
Both Harper and Banks will be on Exhibit 10 deals, which will make them candidates to join the Birmingham Squadron – New Orleans’ G League team – if they don’t earn spots on the Pelicans’ 17-man regular season squad. In that scenario, they’d be eligible for bonuses worth up to $50K in addition to their NBAGL salaries.
Ten Notable NBA Free Agents Who Remain Unsigned
All 50 of the players we identified as 2021’s top NBA free agents prior to the start of the new league year last month have come off the board, many of them within hours of the start of free agency. Nearly all the players we listed in our “honorable mention” have found new homes as well.
However, a few of those honorable mentions remain unsigned, as do a handful of other noteworthy veterans. There are many players worth mentioning, and the full list of current NBA free agents can be found right here, but today we’re singling out 10 vets who fall into three particular categories. Let’s dive in and have a look…
Shooters:
J.J. Redick: Redick is one of the best three-point shooters in NBA history, having converted 41.5% of his 4,704 career attempts. However, a heel injury slowed him down in 2020/21, and he has stated he’s in no rush to sign a new contract for ’21/22. When he’s ready, he’ll likely favor a team close to his home in New York, with the Nets and Knicks believed to be atop his wish list.- James Ennis: Ennis has been a regular NBA role player for the last several years and is coming off a season in which he converted 43.3% of his three-pointers. He has reportedly drawn interest from the Lakers, Bulls, Trail Blazers, and Magic, among other teams, and seems unlikely to remain unsigned for much longer.
- Garrison Mathews: Mathews emerged as a rotation player for the Wizards while on a two-way contract during the last two seasons, making 38.9% of his threes in 82 total games (15.4 MPG). His solid play earned him a qualifying offer this summer, but Washington pulled that offer on the table during the first week of free agency, making Mathews an unrestricted free agent.
- Mike Scott: A veteran stretch four, Scott had a bit of a down year in Philadelphia in 2020/21, but still has a .381 3PT% over the last four seasons, an impressive mark for a player who is also capable of battling big men in the paint. The 76ers signed Georges Niang to replace Scott, but the 33-year-old should catch on somewhere.
Offensive specialists:
- DeMarcus Cousins: Cousins isn’t the same player who earned four All-Star berths and two All-NBA nods earlier in his career, but he wasn’t bad down the stretch with the Clippers this past season, averaging 7.8 PPG and 4.5 RPG on .537/.421/.682 shooting in 16 games (12.9 MPG). Like the other players in this group, he’s not a plus defender, but he can provide some second-unit scoring punch.
- Jahlil Okafor: Recently waived by the Nets, who were facing a roster crunch, Okafor has played for four teams since being drafted third overall in 2015 and has seen his minutes steadily decline during that stretch. He’s still a solid inside scorer, but his lack of an outside shot limits his effectiveness on offense, and he’s not the sort of center who’s comfortable switching onto perimeter players on defense.
- Isaiah Thomas: Like Cousins, Thomas has been limited in recent years by health issues. But he claims he’s back to full strength after being bothered by a long-term hip injury, and has worked out for teams like the Lakers and Mavericks in an effort to prove it. It’d be great to see Thomas get another shot, but his injury history and defensive shortcomings have made teams wary.
Defensive specialists:
Avery Bradley: Once a coveted three-and-D wing, Bradley has seen his stock dip in recent years as he has bounced around the NBA. Since being traded from Boston to Detroit in 2017, he has played for six different teams. Still, Bradley’s the sort of solid veteran that should eventually end up on a 15-man NBA roster, especially if and when teams start getting hit by the injury bug.- Frank Ntilikina: Defense was never a problem for the former lottery pick, but he hasn’t developed enough of an offensive game to be considered a reliable two-way player. A return to Europe could be a possibility for Ntilikina, who reportedly drew interest from Virtus Bologna before the Italian team signed Ty-Shon Alexander.
- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson: Hollis-Jefferson had a pretty solid year in Toronto in 2019/20, showing the ability to bring energy off the bench and guard multiple positions. So it was a bit of a surprise that he didn’t get a chance to play in ’20/21 until the Blazers gave him a shot during the season’s last two months. He’s still only 26 years old — a team in need of a hard worker and tough defender could do much worse with its 14th or 15th roster spot.
And-Ones: Rule Change, Rookies, Ignite, J. Franklin
The NBA’s Board of Governors will vote later this month to approve a rule change to the way late-game out-of-bounds reviews are handled, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).
In past seasons, close out-of-bounds calls have been automatically reviewed in the last two minutes of games, resulting in prolonged stoppages that have halted the momentum of close contests and dragged out the final moments of those games. If the Board of Governors approves the rule change, a head coach’s challenge will be required to trigger those reviews, says Charania.
As John Hollinger of The Athletic points out, it’s possible some close calls would be missed as a result of this change. However, some of the calls being overturned by those automatic reviews were plays where a defender clearly knocked a ball out of bounds, but it grazed the ball-handler’s fingertips last, which was a change “nobody wanted.”
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Mike Schmitz of ESPN (Insider link) identifies several 2021 rookies who are strong candidates to outperform their post-lottery draft positions, including Rockets big man Alperen Sengun (No. 16), Pelicans wing Trey Murphy III (No. 17), and Nuggets guard Bones Hyland (No. 26).
- BIG3 director of basketball operations Thomas Scott, a former Lakers assistant, has joined the G League Ignite as an assistant coach on Jason Hart‘s staff, per an announcement from the BIG3 (Twitter link). Scott will also be the Ignite’s head of player development, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.
- The Chinese Basketball Association has lifted its restrictions on teams signing foreign players now that it has decided to conduct its 2021/22 season in a bubble, as Nicola Lupo of Sportando writes. Sources tell Sportando that former Grizzlies and Nuggets wing Jamaal Franklin – a second-round pick in 2013 – is one of the first players to take advantage, having signed a lucrative new deal with the Shanghai Sharks.
2021/22 NBA Over/Unders: Atlantic Division
The 2021/22 NBA regular season will get underway next month, so it’s time to start getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign and to resume an annual Hoops Rumors tradition.
With the help of the lines from a handful of sports betting sites, including Bovada and BetOnline, we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.
In 2020/21, our voters went 17-13 on their over/under picks. Can you top that in ’21/22?
As a reminder, the NBA played a 72-game schedule in 2020/21, so a team that won 41 games last year finished with a 41-31 record. This year, a club that wins 41 games would be a .500 team (41-41). For added clarity, we’ve noted the record that each team would have to achieve to finish “over” its projected win total.
We’ll kick things off today with the Atlantic division…
Brooklyn Nets
- 2020/21 record: 48-24
- Over/under for 2021/22: 55.5 wins (56-26)
- Major offseason moves:
How many games will the Nets win in 2021/22?
-
Over 55.5 63% (476)
-
Under 55.5 37% (277)
Total votes: 753
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Nets poll.
Philadelphia 76ers
- 2020/21 record: 49-23
- Over/under for 2021/22: 51.5 wins (52-30)
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Andre Drummond, Georges Niang, Jaden Springer
- Lost: George Hill, Dwight Howard, Mike Scott, Anthony Tolliver
How many games will the Sixers win in 2021/22?
-
Under 51.5 70% (536)
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Over 51.5 30% (230)
Total votes: 766
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Sixers poll.
Boston Celtics
- 2020/21 record: 36-36
- Over/under for 2021/22: 46.5 wins (47-35)
- Major offseason moves:
How many games will the Celtics win in 2021/22?
-
Over 46.5 58% (505)
-
Under 46.5 42% (365)
Total votes: 870
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Celtics poll.
New York Knicks
- 2020/21 record: 41-31
- Over/under for 2021/22: 42.5 wins (43-39)
- Major offseason moves:
How many games will the Knicks win in 2021/22?
-
Over 42.5 65% (527)
-
Under 42.5 35% (282)
Total votes: 809
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Knicks poll.
Toronto Raptors
- 2020/21 record: 27-45
- Over/under for 2021/22: 36.5 wins (37-45)
- Major offseason moves:
How many games will the Raptors win in 2021/22?
-
Under 36.5 51% (410)
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Over 36.5 49% (400)
Total votes: 810
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Raptors poll.
Grizzlies Notes: Bane, Offseason, Adams, Celtics Trade
Grizzlies sharpshooter Desmond Bane officially has new representation. After leaving Seth Cohen of SAC Sports Family earlier this offseason, Bane has signed with agent Jim Tanner of Tandem Sports + Entertainment/YouFirst, according to the agency’s Instagram.
Bane’s new agent won’t have to negotiate a second contract for him for a while yet. Having just been drafted in 2020, Bane is entering the second season of his four-year rookie contract, and won’t be eligible for a rookie scale extension until the 2023 offseason. If he doesn’t sign a new deal that year, he’d reach restricted free agency in 2024.
Here’s more on the Grizzlies:
- In his look back at the Grizzlies’ offseason, Zach Harper of The Athletic assigns the team a grade of B-minus. Harper acknowledges that the team didn’t really upgrade its roster, but notes that Memphis’ young players have room to continue improving, and the club is well-positioned to keep building for the future.
- Within Harper’s recap, John Hollinger of The Athletic says Steven Adams won’t have a bigger overall impact than Jonas Valanciunas, but suggests the team is hoping Adams can improve the team’s pick-and-roll defense. While Adams isn’t super-versatile, he’s a bit more capable of switching than Valanciunas and may be better suited to stay on the floor in fourth quarters, in Hollinger’s view.
- Memphis’ trade agreement that will send Juan Hernangomez to Boston in exchange for Kris Dunn, Carsen Edwards, and a second-round pick swap should be completed this week. Dunn’s aggregation restriction will lift on Wednesday, at which point the Grizzlies and Celtics will be free to move forward with their deal.
- The Grizzlies are in position to end up with three first-round picks in the 2022 draft, as we detailed earlier today.