Cavs, Gee Nearing Three-Year Deal?
MONDAY, 2:48pm: The Cavs and Gee aren't "especially close" to finalizing anything, a source tells Amico (Sulia link). It still appears as if Gee will return to Cleveland, but a deal may not be signed until closer to the start of training camp.
SATURDAY, 1:20pm: The Cavs and Alonzo Gee are nearing agreement on a three-year deal worth roughly $10MM, a source tells Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio (via Twitter).
The news was first reported by John Telich of FOX Sports 8 (via Twitter). Telich adds that discussions between the Cavs and Gee are ongoing in regards to how much money will be guaranteed. There is also a possibility that the contract will include a team option for a fourth year.
Gee, 25, averaged 10.6 PPG with 5.1 RPG in 29 minutes per contest last season for Cleveland.
Brandon Jennings Wants Contract Extension
Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings has been vocal about his desire to explore free agency in the past, but has recently shown that he is open to signing a new deal in Milwaukee. Today, Jennings made his strongest comments yet as he says that he hopes to have a contract extension worked out before the start of the season, writes Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel.
"It would be something I’d love to get done with and over with so I don’t have to worry about it," Jennings said. "But the main thing is just to come into training camp a better player, a better leader … just lead the team to the playoffs."
The two sides have until October 31st to reach agreement on an extension. Jennings, 23 in September, turned in a career-high 19.1 PPG last season with 5.5 APG while shooting 41.8% from the floor. Jennings may be hesitant to try his hand on the open market as a restricted free agent as he is in line to be in the same class as fellow one-guards Ty Lawson, Stephen Curry, Jrue Holiday, and Jeff Teague.
Odds & Ends: Harden, Hornets, James, Olympics
Sad news today as former NBA Deputy Commissioner and Players Association executive director Simon Gourdine passed away at the age of 72. As deputy commissioner in 1976, Gourdine was instrumental in helping to facilitate the merger of the NBA and ABA, which brought the Nets, Pacers, Spurs, and Nuggets over to the Association. Here's more from around the league on this Sunday evening..
- If Eric Gordon is a max player, and Brook Lopez is a max player, reigning Sixth Man of the Year James Harden is certainly a max player, opines Chris Sheridan of Sheridan Hoops. After signing Serge Ibaka to a four-year, $48MM contract extension, the Thunder will have to get creative if they hope to hang on to Harden. Of course, Oklahoma City may opt to trade the super sub to avoid the possibility of having to match a lucrative backloaded offer sheet down the line.
- The Hornets have gone to great lengths to revamp their club this summer and Jim Eichenhofer of Hornets.com runs down the newest additions to the hive. Eichenhofer notes that the recently-acquired Hakim Warrick may have to shift from power forward to small forward in order to see time in New Orleans.
- It may be four years away, but LeBron James already says that he hopes to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, according to the Associated Press. James joked that he has "done the math" and is well aware that he will be 31-years-old during those games. Of course, James could only play if there isn't an under-23 age limit applied for USA Basketball starting in 2016.
Cavs Not Looking To Buy Out Walton, Casspi
The Cavaliers aren't expected to buy out Luke Walton or Omri Casspi, according to Mary Schmitt Boyer and Jodie Valade of The Plain Dealer (Twitter links). The Cavs also have yet to reach agreement on a deal with Alonzo Gee, though the two sides are reportedly closing in on a three-year deal worth about $10MM.
A report earlier today indicated that the Cavs were considering a buyout for Casspi. The Israeli forward is set to earn $2.277MM next season and can be retained with a $3.313MM qualifying offer in 2013/14.
Walton, 32, played in just 21 games for the Cavs last season and has been used out of position at power forward rather than his natural three spot. The former Laker is under contract for one more season where he'll make a sizable $6.091MM. As it stands, Walton is set to be the third-highest paid Cavalier next season behind Baron Davis and Anderson Varejao.
Florida Notes: Heat, Magic, Big Three, Harris
Let's take a trip to the Sunshine State to check in on the Heat and Magic..
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel takes a look at a few college players Magic fans should keep an eye on this season, including Nerlens Noel, Cody Zeller, Shabazz Muhammad, and James McAdoo.
- Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel looks ahead to the summer of 2014 where the Heat's big three could be the biggest gets on the open market. Winderman sees the Magic as a potential threat to poach Miami's talent as they'll have the cap space to sign two top-tier free agents. The Lakers will also have payroll flexibility once the contracts of Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant expire and as unlikely as it seems that they would part with Kobe, Winderman notes that they are the same club that traded Shaquille O'Neal.
- More from Winderman, who is surprised that the Heat have yet to re-sign guard Terrel Harris. The 25-year-old is seeking a contract with some amount of guarantees, but the club may be holding its remaining two spots open for a different combination of players which may include Juwan Howard.
- Undrafted free agent Charlie Westbrook has agreed to a three-year deal with Italian team Tezenis Veronia, tweets Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld. Westbrook, who was in summer league with the Magic, tweeted earlier this week that he would be passing on two training camp opportunities to play overseas.
Thunder Notes: Ibaka, Harden, Luxury Tax
Early this morning, we learned that the Thunder reached agreement with Serge Ibaka on a four-year, $48MM contract extension. Oklahoma City now has three of their core members locked up in Ibaka, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant, but some wonder how the deal will affect James Harden's future. Here's more out of Oklahoma City..
- From a financial standpoint, things will now get even more interesting for General Manager Sam Presti and the organization moving forward, writes Lang Greene of HoopsWorld. If Harden gets a deal worth $11-$13MM annually, the Thunder would have roughly $68-$71MM of salary commitments tied into six players starting in 2014. Doing that would force Oklahoma City to delve into luxury tax territory while filling out the rest of the roster.
- A $12MM average annual salary for Ibaka was expected but certainly isn't a bargain, tweets Zach Lowe of SI.com. The Thunder will now be flirting with the luxury tax line in 2014 and '15 and Lowe writes that getting under the threshold or staying close in the next two years will be critical.
- The sizable deal means that the Thunder have opted to put a great deal of support behind Ibaka, who is not of the same caliber as Harden, opines Matt Moore of CBSSports.com.
Hoops Links: Knicks, Johnson, Martin, Olympics
On this date in 1992, Larry Bird announced his retirement from the NBA after 13 incredible seasons. Larry Legend went out on the highest note possible after he and the Dream Team captured the gold medal in Barcelona, Spain. The forward played with toughness and grit until the very end of his NBA career but was severely hampered by back issues in his later years and, clearly, had nothing left to prove. The Hall of Famer finished his career with 24.3 PPG, 10.0 RPG, and 6.3 APG with 49.6% shooting from the floor. Bird also accumulated more accolades than the space in this post will allow: three NBA titles, three MVP awards, two Finals MVP awards, twelve All-Star nominations, and much, much more.
If you have a great blog piece that you think we should feature in Hoops Links, then send it to me at HoopsLinks@gmail.com. Here's this week's look around the blogosphere..
- Hardwood Paroxysm isn't all that high on the Knicks' offseason.
- Nets Are Scorching celebrates Joe Johnson week.
- Red94 tackles the Kevin Martin dilemma.
- SecretRival has an updated list of summer league players that have hooked on overseas.
- Basketball Prospectus ranks the recruiting classes of the last ten years.
- Wages Of Wins has compiled projections for every team, as built, for the next five seasons.
- Raptors Republic liked the play of Jonas Valanciunas in London.
- Bucksketball didn't see Carlos Delfino as a great fit for the Rockets.
- Hoops Addict makes the case for Ante Tomic.
- Bright Side Of The Sun recaps Jared Dudley's summer on Twitter.
- Swish Appeal breaks down the women's team phenomenal defense against France.
- Truth About It believes that Nene Hilario's play in the Olympics will change how he's used this year.
- NBA 24 7 365 doesn't like the Dwight Howard trade for the Magic.
- The Basketball Post looks at potential lottery pick Alec Brown.
- Pounding The Rock isn't so sure that the Howard deal will work out for the Lakers.
- The NBA Geek dispels the fallacy of small ball.
- Buckets Over Broadway marvels at the spending in the Atlantic Division.
- RealGM says that the Bulls never really had a chance with D12.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Zach can be reached here.
Week In Review: 8/6/12 – 8/12/12
Finally, we can stop speculating about where Dwight Howard will end up…for now, anyway. The Lakers acquired the big man in a massive four-team deal which sent Andrew Bynum to the 76ers, Andre Iguodala to the 76ers, and a whole lotta draft picks to the Magic. Orlando may not have come out with an elite talent in the trade, but they gave themselves a ton of flexibility going forward, including a $17.8MM trade exception. Our other top stories of the past week..
- Team USA topped Spain to win gold behind strong play from LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
- The Blazers hired Terry Stotts as head coach but will keep Kaleb Canales on staff as an assistant.
- The 76ers are confident that they can keep Bynum.
- The Bulls were in on talks for Howard before the deal was finalized.
- The Suns agreed to terms with veteran big man Jermaine O'Neal.
- The Lakers and Jodie Meeks agreed to terms on a two-year deal worth about $3MM. A deal with Devin Ebanks is likely around the corner as well.
- The Jazz introduced Dennis Lindsey as their new GM.
- Gary Sacks looks like the frontrunner to be the Clippers' next GM.
- The Cavs may have made a three-year offer to Alonzo Gee.
- The Bucks signed Joel Przybilla to a one-year deal.
- Two teams are looking at Louis Amundson.
- Craig Smith signed in Israel.
- Carlos Delfino should sign soon.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 8/6/12 – 8/12/12
Here's our look back at the original analysis produced by our writing team this week..
- Chuck Myron looked at the going rate for the top ten producers in assists.
- The majority of Hoops Rumors readers see the Nets winning between 47-51 games this year.
- Daniel Seco asked how the Lakers will fare this year and most of you see them notching 61-65 Ws. More than 57% of you now have the Lakers as the favorite to win it all in 2012/13.
- Most of you expect to see the Celtics on top of the Atlantic this year over the Knicks and the new-look Nets.
- Luke Adams fielded questions on the Olympics, the Dwightmare, and Tracy McGrady in this week's chat.
- Luke looked at contract scenarios for Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, and Andrew Bynum.
- A whopping 65% of Hoops Rumors readers believe that Anthony Davis will gain the most from this summer's Olympic experience for Team USA.
Poll: How Many Wins For The Nets This Year?
We witnessed an extremely entertaining summer in the NBA full of teams reloading and, in some cases, completely remodeling. The Nets may have missed out on Dwight Howard, but they managed to upgrade their roster to the point where it’s hard to imagine that they won’t be highly competitive in 2012/13.
With all due respect to the duo of Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash, General Manager Billy King paired Deron Williams with Joe Johnson to form what may be the best backcourt in the Association. Gerald Wallace surprised many by opting out of his $9.5MM player option for next season, but the Nets managed to retain him with a four-year, $40MM pact. Kris Humphries is back to anchor the power forward slot and perhaps the biggest difference maker for the club will be the return of a healthy Brook Lopez at the five. The formidable starting lineup will be supported by overseas import Mirza Teletovic and MarShon Brooks, who was a badly-needed bright spot for the Nets in his rookie campaign.
It’s probably safe to say that the Nets will top their .333 winning percentage of last season, but how many wins will they notch?
How Many Games Will The Nets Win Next Season?
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47-51 37% (392)
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42-46 27% (289)
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52-56 21% (220)
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41 or less 11% (115)
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56-60 3% (33)
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60 or more 2% (17)
Total votes: 1,066