Jazz Waive Cook, McGuire, Holiday, Hudson, Machado
The Jazz announced that they have cut Brian Cook, Dominic McGuire, Justin Holiday, Lester Hudson and Scott Machado. Utah’s roster is now down to 15, including the injured Brandon Rush and Marvin Williams.
Today’s news means that Mike Harris and Jamaal Tinsley have both made the cut for the Jazz. Tinsley’s signing, necessitated when rookie point guard Trey Burke broke his hand earlier this month, likely cost one of today’s camp cuts a spot on the team. All five were on fully non-guaranteed deals, so the Jazz aren’t on the hook for their salaries.
Everyone the Jazz brought to camp has NBA experience, and that includes Harris, who’ll begin his fourth NBA season on opening night. The power forward has played sparingly, totaling just 34 games across stints with the Rockets and Wizards, but coach Tyrone Corbin values the mobility of his 6’6″, 235-pound frame, as Jody Genessy of the Deseret News points out (on Twitter).
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Spurs Waive Josh Howard
The Spurs today announced that they have waived forward Josh Howard. Howard barely had a chance to unpack his bags as he was signed by the club just yesterday.
Howard was originally drafted 29th overall in the first round of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Mavericks where he played for seven seasons. Over the course of his career with the Mavs, Wizards, Jazz, and Timberwolves the Wake Forest University product has averaged 14.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 30.3 minutes.
According to Mike Monroe of the San Antonio News-Express (via Twitter), the gameplan is to wait for Howard to clear waivers so that they can send him to the D-League’s Austin Toros. There, Howard can continue to ramp back up towards being in game shape.
Clippers Waive Lou Amundson
The Clippers waived forward Louis Amundson after last night’s preseason game, according to Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter). Amundson was on a non-guaranteed deal.
The 30-year-old saw NBA action for the Timberwolves, Bulls, and Hornets (now the Pelicans) last season, averaging 1.9 PPG and 1.5 RPG in 39 contests. It wasn’t a banner year for the big man, but he came to the Clippers with a reputation for solid rebounding and overall hustle. For his career, Amundson boasts a 10.1 RPG per 36 minutes average.
Wizards To Exercise Bradley Beal’s Option
The Wizards aren’t going to pick up the fourth-year options on Jan Vesely and Chris Singleton, but they will trigger Bradley Beal‘s third-year option, a source familiar with the club’s thinking tells Michael Lee of the Washington Post. Of course, the move was widely expected.
Beal, 20, averaged 13.9 PPG with 3.8 RPG and 2.4 APG in his rookie season. The guard was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2012 draft and along with John Wall he helps to form one of the most promising backcourts in the NBA.
Beal & Co. could be joined by a bonafide star next year as they are projected to have about $15MM for next summer’s free agent frenzy.
Celtics To Waive Chris Babb
The Celtics will waive former Iowa state guard Chris Babb, sources told Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Releasing Babb brings the C’s roster down to 14 and keeps them out of luxury tax territory.
Babb, 23, went undrafted this past June and hooked on with the Celtics in late August after playing for the Suns’ summer league squad. In his senior year at Iowa State, the 6’5″ guard averaged 9.1 PPG to go along with 38.2% shooting from three-point range. Babb was always viewed as a longshot to make the C’s but he managed to outlast fellow camp invitees DeShawn Sims, Kammron Taylor, and Damen Bell-Holter by a few days.
Lakers Waive Marcus Landry
The Lakers announced that they have waived forward Marcus Landry. Los Angeles’ roster is now down to the maximum of 15 players.
Landry signed on with the Lakers in mid-September and was thought to have a decent chance at making the club with second-round pick Ryan Kelly working his way back from injury.
Landry, who turns 28 next week, appeared in 18 games in the 2009/10 season with the Knicks and Celtics. Since then, he’s bounced between the D-League and Europe, and played with the Reno Bighorns of the D-League last season.
Terms of Landry’s deal were not disclosed at signing but it’s safe to assume that it was a non-guaranteed deal.
Wizards To Decline Options On Vesely, Singleton
The Wizards are set to decline their fourth-year options on Jan Vesely and Chris Singleton, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. The team officially has until Oct. 31 to make the decision for the 2014/15 season, but it appears that their minds are already made up.
Singleton, who was chosen with the No. 18 pick in the 2011 draft, has missed the entire preseason after undergoing surgery on his left foot/toe. Vesely, who was the No. 6 overall pick in that draft, hasn’t progressed in the way that the club hoped he would at this stage. The big man has averaged just 3.6 PPG in 15.5 minutes per contest over his first two years in the league. Singleton hasn’t fulfilled his potential either, averaging 4.4 PPG and 3.4 RPG in 19.1 minutes per contest.
The Wizards could still re-sign both players following the 2013/14 season to less-than-scale contracts, but they won’t be back for the same amount, unless they truly break out this year. Vesely would have made $4.2MM while Singleton was set to make $2.5MM had their options been exercised.
Odds & Ends: Heat, Smith, Kidd, Wiggins
The Heat were picked as the clear favorite to win the 2013/14 title in this year’s GM survey, writes John Schuhmann of NBA.com. There were a few dissenters with the Spurs and Pacers receiving 6.9% of the vote and the Bulls, Clippers, and Thunder also getting nods. LeBron James was the overwhelming pick to win the MVP trophy and Pelicans big man Anthony Davis was pegged as the breakout player of the year. Magic guard Victor Oladipo was picked to win the Rookie of the Year award and GMs feel that he’ll be the best player out of this class five years from now. Here’s more from around the Association..
- Pistons forward Josh Smith spoke to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld about his decision to leave the Hawks this summer. “It wasn’t as hard as other people saw it,” Smith said. “It was time for me to experience a different thing in my life, a new situation, new opportunity and I’m happy where I’m at.” It also didn’t hurt that Detroit gave him a four-year, $54MM deal.
- David Aldridge of NBA.com sat down with new Nets head coach Jason Kidd for a Q&A. The discussion covered his learning curve and former coaches that the point guard has apologized to now that he has discovered the difficulty of the job.
- Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle, Dante Exum, Jabari Parker, and Aaron Gordon are all candidates to go No. 1 overall in next June’s draft, in Kyler’s view (Twitter link). Not everyone would agree with that assessment as Wiggins has long been viewed as the top talent in the 2014 class.
Bucher On Nets, Pacers, Stephenson, Jordan, Collins
In his first column for Bleacher Report, Ric Bucher writes that GMs from across the league are reporting that their owners have skyhigh/unrealistic expectations for the upcoming season. Bucher spoke to several execs and asked them about their chief concern for 2013/14 and Nets GM Billy King was the only one whose biggest concern centered on basketball. The expectation level of owners and front office turnover has changed the mindset of many execs who were once seeking the formula for success but are now zeroed in on survival. More from Bucher’s column..
- The Pacers are a young squad with a payroll ($71.431MM) on the cusp of the luxury-tax threshold, but one opposing GM said that, for financial reasons, they will have a hard time ever fielding a team deeper in talent than this one. Danny Granger’s $14MM contract comes off the books next season, but that savings is wiped out by Paul George’s extension kicking in. The bottom line is that locking up free-agent-to-be Lance Stephenson will require stripping the roster of its current depth. “One thing I can tell you,” the exec said. “Indy is not paying the luxury tax.”
- Some are skeptical of Clippers coach Doc Rivers‘ praise for center DeAndre Jordan and his effort, but Bucher hears that it’s legit. “He’s more engaged than ever before,” a scout said of Jordan, who clashed with previous coach Vinny Del Negro. “He’s constantly talking on defense, and that’s new.” Of course, Rivers will have quite a bit of say in personnel in L.A.
- Several GMs say they have an aversion to free agent center Jason Collins – not because of his sexual orientation, but over the relentless media attention it will generate. “If it were just an initial blast and you knew it would settle down after that, it would be one thing,” said one executive. “But you know this is something that he and his teammates are going to be asked about everywhere they go, all season long, and all it takes is one guy to say something a little off and it could really blow up. He’s still good enough to play in the league, but when you throw in the ongoing media frenzy, most teams are going to decide it’s just not worth it.” The Nets and Pistons were reportedly among the clubs with some level of interest in the free agent big man.
- One GM who was polled said the shift from commissioner David Stern to Adam Silver is his biggest worry. “I don’t know how much he thinks about the integrity of the game,” the GM said. “He’s more about selling widgets.”
Pacific Rumors: Lakers, Kelly, Warriors
The latest from the Pacific Division..
- The Lakers still aren’t sure if they’ll be carrying 14 or 15 players on their opening night roster, writes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. Strong play from Xavier Henry all but guarantees that he’ll get the 14th spot and it looks to be a two-man race for No. 15 between second round Ryan Kelly and Marcus Landry. Right now, it looks like Kelly might have a slight edge over Landry.
- For his part, Kelly is optimistic that he’ll make the Lakers‘ cut, writes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. “I believe I’ve shown myself enough and I’ll continue to show that I’ve earned a spot on this team,” Kelly said. “But to be honest with you, I can’t worry about it at this point. I’m in a situation where I’m a little bit behind. But it doesn’t matter. I’m out on the court now where I have to prove what I can do everyday. Tomorrow is another day.” Lakers forward Pau Gasol spoke about Kelly’s role last night and sounded pretty confident that he’ll be a part of the team come opening night.
- Foreign import Nemanja Nedovic shows a lot of promise for the Warriors, but Andy Fahey of NBA.com cautions that he’s not likely to see major minutes this season with guard Toney Douglas spelling Stephen Curry. Nedovic could spent a good amount of time playing with the club’s D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz.