Odds & Ends: Varejao, Olympics, Hornets, Spurs
Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao has seen his name pop up in trade rumors this month, mostly in connection with a possible three-team Dwight Howard trade. However, the Brazilian says that the speculation doesn’t bother him, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. “There’s nothing that I can do. If they trade me, they trade me,” Varejao said. Here’s more from around the Association..
- Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tells told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter) that “…the Olympics are a huge for-profit endeavor. It makes no sense that NBA owners subsidize it.” An NBA GM agreed with Cuban’s assessment, suggesting that players shouldn’t have their salaries guaranteed in the event of injuries in the Olympic games (Twitter link).
- Hornets owner Tom Benson is hoping to raise the club’s profile to the level of his New Orleans Saints, writes Peter Finney of The Times-Picayune. The Hornets sold 10,000 season tickets last season and Benson has an ambitious goal of selling 17,000 for the upcoming year.
- Mark Nugent of HoopsWorld runs down the best remaining free agents by position. The best player left on the open market, he writes, is arguably forward Carl Landry.
- Raul Barrigon of HoopsHype caught up with Hall Of Famer David Robinson to discuss Tim Duncan‘s new contract, the Spurs‘ knack for finding international talent, and the Dream Team.
Week In Review: 7/23/12 – 7/29/12
If you missed out on anything this week, we've got you covered with our Week In Review..
- The Magic are set to introduce Jacque Vaughn as their next head coach tomorrow afternoon. The 37-year-old spent the last two years as an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio.
- Meanwhile, the agent for Dwight Howard admitted that he and fellow reps spoke to the media about this week's meeting between Howard and the Magic. In those meetings, the star center reiterated his trade demands.
- The Hornets acquired Robin Lopez and Hakim Warrick in a three-team deal with the T'Wolves and Suns. Full details of the trade have yet to be disclosed but it appears that Phoenix will acquire Wesley Johnson in the deal.
- The Timberwolves agreed to a two-year, $20MM contract with Andrei Kirilenko after clearing space in the three-way trade.
- The Bulls signed Nazr Mohammed after the center was said to be close to a deal with the Nets.
- The Cavs and T'Wolves are the favorites for Anthony Tolliver.
- The Warriors signed Kent Bazemore to a two-year, partially-guaranteed contract.
- E'Twaun Moore has cleared waivers and is free to sign with any team besides the Celtics.
- The Raptors officially signed John Lucas III.
- The Bucks, Mavs, and Blazers are among the teams interested in Joel Przybilla.
- Suns president Brad Casper has resigned.
- The Mavericks re-signed Delonte West after the veteran received some interest from the Lakers.
- The Grizzlies sent Jeremy Pargo, a 2014 second-round pick and cash to the Cavs for D.J. Kennedy on Wednesday.
- Former Trail Blazers executive Tom Penn is a frontrunning candidate for the Sixers' general manager position.
- The Knicks signed Ronnie Brewer.
- The Wizards signed A.J. Price to back up John Wall.
- The Clippers officially signed Ronnie Turiaf.
- The Grizzlies re-signed Hamed Haddadi.
- Jon Diebler signed to play in the Turkish league next season.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 7/23/12 – 7/29/12
Our look back at the original analysis produced by our writing team this week..
- Luke Adams ran down the largest salaries for the upcoming 2012/13 season.
- Ryan Raroque examined Taj Gibson as an extension candidate.
- At first glance it seems improbable that a team like the Thunder can keep their entire core together, Luke writes, but it's not impossible.
- I rounded up the best of the blogosphere in this week's edition of Hoops Links.
- Chuck Myron asked which team had the best offseason and the Lakers won with 36% of the vote.
- Luke Adams conducted our weekly chat with topics ranging from the 76ers GM search to Omer Asik.
- The majority of Hoops Rumors readers believe that Anthony Davis will improve most from the Olympics in Daniel Seco's poll.
- Luke looked at the Bulls and the salary cap.
- Despite the Bucks' lack of progress in recent years, there are plenty of reasons for them to look to keep Brandon Jennings, Chuck writes.
- Chuck looked at the effects of playing for Team USA.
- Luke compiled a list of the teams that lost traded player exceptions this month.
- Chuck ran down signed offer sheets dating back to 2008.
- Ty Lawson is the next Nuggets player in line for an extension, Luke writes.
- Check out a full list of our features.
Odds & Ends: Vaughn, Heat, Jerebko, Pistons
The Magic have their head coach in former Spurs assistant Jacque Vaughn – now it’s on to the small matter of figuring out what to do with Dwight Howard. Here’s the latest from around the Association..
- While some outsiders might be surprised to see Vaughn get the head coaching job in Orlando over more high-profile candidates, the Spurs saw this coming, writes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. “Jacque Vaughn is a star,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said upon hiring Vaughn two summers ago. “You can see the same qualities in him that you saw in Avery [Johnson].”
- Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel doesn’t think that the Heat have to rush into adding a big man as it is July and there are still plenty of centers available.
- LeBron James had high praise for Pistons forward Jonas Jerebko and called him a “shining star,” writes Brian Manzullo of the Detroit Free Press. Jerebko inked a four-year, $18MM deal with Detroit prior to the start of the 2011/12 season.
- As far as Alonzo Mourning is concerned, the original Dream Team is the best USA basketball team ever assembled, Winderman writes. The former center believes that the second-best squad assembled is the 1994 USA team (also known as “Dream Team II”) which featured Mourning in the middle.
Hoops Links: Howard, Blazers, Rockets, Wade
Twenty-four years ago, the Hawks became the first NBA team to play in the Soviet Union when they topped the Soviet Georgia All-Stars 85-84 in an exhibition game. The event helped to promote the game in Eastern Europe and disproved the long-standing theory that in Soviet Russia, basketball plays you.
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..
- Hinton's Sports Highlights looks at the Dwight Howard saga.
- Blazer's Edge wouldn't say that Portland is giving up this year.
- Basketball Prospectus looks at the best teams since 1992.
- Red94 delivers the epilogue of Goran Dragic vs. Kyle Lowry.
- Hardwood Paroxysm takes a trip to Dwyane Wade's world.
- Fear The Sword is impatiently waiting to see the Alonzo Gee situation resolved.
- Golden State Of Mind is high on Harrison Barnes.
- Celtics Blog writes that Jason Terry isn't a perfect replacement for Ray Allen.
- SLC Dunk reflects on the work of Jeff Hornacek.
- Bucksketball goes around the horn to preview the 2012/13 season.
- Pounding The Rock talks Las Vegas.
- Waiting For Next Year breaks down the Cavs' upcoming season schedule.
- Rufus On Fire is looking forward to watching Michael Kidd-Gilchrist this year.
- Bullets Forever gets to know A.J. Price.
- Liberty Ballers asks if the 76ers are playoff bound.
- The Basketball Post previews the 2012 Olympics.
- NBA 24 7 365 has ten games that they suggest skipping.
- Swish Appeal looks at Great Britain's women's team.
- The Hoop Doctors talk Nate Robinson.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Zach can be reached here.
Rockets Sign Omer Asik
2:48pm: The Rockets have officially added Asik, the team announced in a press release.
11:58am: The Bulls have officially declined to match Asik's offer sheet with the Rockets, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. As a result, Houston will land Asik for three years and $25.1MM. Like Jeremy Lin's contract was, Asik's cap hit will be spread evenly across the three years, rather than being severely backloaded.
JULY 24TH, 11:27am: The Bulls will officially announce later today that they won't be matching Asik's offer sheet, says K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
Jazz Sign Randy Foye
TUESDAY, 7:39am: Foye's deal with the Jazz is worth $2.5MM over one year, according to Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune (via Twitter). It appears the team used a portion of its mid-level exception for the signing.
MONDAY, 10:01pm: The Jazz have signed Randy Foye to a one-year deal, according to Ric Bucher of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Terms of the deal are not yet known.
The Knicks have long been linked to the Tri-state area native, but the shooting guard did not factor into their plans. The Mavericks, Rockets, Hawks, Suns, and Bucks were all said to be interested in Foye as well but the Jazz were never known to be among his suitors.
Foye, 29 in September, hooked on with the Clippers as a free agent in the summer of 2010 on a two-year, $8.5MM contract. In two years with Los Angeles, Foye averaged 10.4 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 25. 3 minutes per contest. For his career, the former seventh-overall pick has put up 11.6 PPG and 3.2 APG.
The Villanova product joined the Clips' starting lineup last season after Chauncey Billups' season ending injury and shot 39% from long range, his best of any full season. As a team, the Jazz shot just 32.3% from beyond the arc in 2011/12.
Odds & Ends: Lin, Bulls, Cavs, Nuggets
The craze of Linsanity dominated the pages of Hoops Rumors for several months and extended into the offseason, where the Rockets unexpectedly managed to pry Jeremy Lin away from the Knicks. Lin admitted to Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group that in some ways, the hoopla went to his head. However, Lin believes that he is now well-equipped to deal with the hype and isn't concerned about living up to it in Houston. Here's a look at tonight's news from around the Association..
- The Bulls bench has gotten a complete overhaul this summer, writes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. Chicago appears set to sign Nazr Mohammed to replace Omer Asik and reached agreement with Marco Belinelli on a one-year deal earlier this evening.
- The trade rumors surrounding a blockbuster three-way trade involving the Cavs, Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum have quieted down, and Bob Finnan of the News-Herald doesn't expect the deal to go down this summer. Meanwhile, the Magic have told rival execs that they might not trade Howard at all.
- While some clubs seem to be putting all of their eggs in the basket of landing one or two mega-stars, the Nuggets are busy building a franchise their own way, writes Zach Lowe of Sports Illustrated. GM Masai Ujiri would love to land a top-ten talent, but the team is in position to be competitive regardless. I would argue that the new-look Nets are also following a similar gameplan.
Magic May Not Trade Dwight Howard
The Magic have told rival executives that they might not trade Dwight Howard after all, sources told ESPN.com's Chris Broussard. An executive who has talked with the Magic said that the club only will trade Howard in a deal that is great for the franchise, a stance they have taken for the "last week or so."
Meanwhile, another exec who has had discussions with the Magic believes that they will start the season with the star center and wait until the trade deadline to move him. However, neither executive would rule out posturing by the Magic. Sources say that the Lakers and Rockets are also under the impression that the Magic won't trade Howard anytime soon.
In Saturday night's poll, nearly 57% of Hoops Rumors readers said that they believe Howard would wind up as a member of the Lakers. Meanwhile, just under 14% of those polled predicted that D12 would finish out 2012/13 with Orlando.
Spurs Interested In Bo McCalebb
The Spurs are seriously interested in signing Lega Basket Serie A point guard Bo McCalebb, according to Sportando. However, his club, Montepaschi Siena, is not presently satisfied with the buyout that the Spurs have offered.
McCalebb, 27, played his college basketball at the University of New Orleans prior to moving overseas and spending time in Turkey, Serbia, and Italy. Last season, the point guard was named the Italian League MVP with 16.9 PPG and 2.6 APG. The 6'0" guard could have a tough time fitting in with San Antonio, however, as they already have a few undersized backcourt players.
So far, the Spurs are the only known NBA team with interest in signing the New Orleans native but a pair of European clubs are reportedly targeting him. Europe Fenerbahce Ulker and Unics Kazan could offer to Siena a buyout in excess of $1.21MM, according to Sportando.