Cavs Sign Lou Amundson For Camp
SEPTEMBER 26TH: The deal is official, the team acknowledged, including Amundson on its training camp roster.
SEPTEMBER 19TH: Big man Louis Amundson will be in training camp with the Cavs, agent Mark Bartelstein has confirmed to HoopsHype (via Twitter). The Mark Bartelstein client worked out for Cleveland earlier this week.
Amundson, 31, was released from his non-guaranteed deal with the Bulls in July. The veteran has bounced around quite a bit, having played for five teams in the last four seasons after a successful run in Phoenix’s rotation. He’s been exclusively on minimum-salary contracts the past two seasons and if he sticks with LeBron James & Co. it’ll be for that same figure.
The Cavs have been looking for rim protection of late, and Amundson, who has posted 2.0 blocks per 36 minutes over the course of his career, fits the bill. Cleveland already has deals with 18 players, but only 12 of them have fully guaranteed pacts. Anderson Varejao, who’s set to play a prominent role in the team’s frontcourt rotation as usual, is one of four Cavs with partially guaranteed deals.
Roscoe Smith To Attend Lakers Camp
SEPTEMBER 23RD: The signing is official, the team announced.
AUGUST 4TH: Former UNLV and UConn forward Roscoe Smith has accepted an invite to Lakers training camp, a source tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (on Twitter). The 23-year-old went undrafted in June.
Smith was a second-round draft candidate but likely went undrafted thanks to his age and lack of size for his more natural power forward position. Smith, who celebrated his 23rd birthday in May, stands at 6’8″ and weighed in at just 202 pounds this summer.
As a freshman at UConn, Smith started 33 games and put up 5.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game. He also started in the 2011 NCAA Tournament, helping the Huskies to the National Championship. The following season, he saw his playing time decrease thanks to the arrival of Andre Drummond.
After UConn was banned from postseason play thanks to academic issues, he transferred to UNLV and per the rules sat out the 2012/13 season. Smith averaged 11.1 points per game and 10.9 rebounds per game.
Pistons Sign Lorenzo Brown For Camp
THURSDAY, 12:11pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
TUESDAY, 8:32am: Not surprisingly, the deal is for the minimum salary, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders confirms (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 8:55pm: The signing has taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log, although the team has yet to make an official announcement.
THURSDAY, 2:59pm: Hoops Rumors has learned that the deal does not include any guaranteed money.
2:52pm: Free agent guard Lorenzo Brown has reached agreement on a deal with the Pistons, a league source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). Charania adds that it’s a one-year deal for the 2013 second round pick (link). Brown became a free agent recently after Italy’s Reyer Venezia voided the contract he signed with the club in July because he failed his physical.
Brown appeared in 26 games for the Sixers last season before they cut him back in March to make room for Darius Johnson-Odom. He averaged 2.5 PPG, 1.1 RPG, and 1.6 APG. His slash line was .302/.100/.692.
Gustavo Ayon Signs With Real Madrid
SEPTEMBER 23RD: The deal is official, the Spanish ACB league announced (on Twitter; translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The tweet indicates that it’s a two-year contract, rather than a three-year arrangement as originally reported.
SEPTEMBER 19TH: Former Hawks big man Gustavo Ayon has agreed to sign with Real Madrid, according to Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi (on Twitter). Ayon’s contract will be for three years, which is the deal the two sides initially agreed to before his FC Barcelona buyout got in the way. The agreement was first reported by Spanish language outlet Solobasket.
Ayon actually agreed to a deal with Real Madrid earlier this month but FC Barcelona blocked the pact since they held his European rights. The club insisted on a $376K buyout, but the club said yesterday that Ayon was free to sign wherever he wanted to. It’s still not clear if Ayon wrote the check for the buyout, as he said he was willing to do, or if the club simply reliquished its hold on him.
The Spurs and Shandong of China both made formal offers to Ayon but the Real Madrid deal is presumably more lucrative. Shandong has since moved on as they agreed to sign Miroslav Raduljica earlier today.
Ayon is coming off a three-year, $4.5MM contract he signed with New Orleans shortly after the lockout. He wound up heading to the Magic and Bucks before spending last season with the Hawks, who made him an unrestricted free agent this summer when they declined to tender a qualifying offer.
Western Notes: Warriors, Harris, Grizzlies
Dennis Rogers of Clippers.com solicited the help of four national writers to preview the Pacific Division for 2014/15. Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com says that the offseason move that will probably have the most impact will be replacing coach Mark Jackson with Steve Kerr. How the Warriors respond to losing a popular coach is critical to how the division will shake out, Shelburne opines. More from the Western Conference..
- Mavericks guard Devin Harris says his squad believes that they’re even better than last season, according to Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram (Twitter links). The Mavs had an active offseason which included adding Chandler Parsons and trading for Tyson Chandler.
- While the Grizzlies are certainly a team worthy of respect, they did not do enough this summer for Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders to expect significant improvement. While Hamitlon likes some of their moves, like re-signing Zach Randolph to a two-year, $20MM extension, the Grizzlies could be leapfrogged by the Pelicans in his estimation.
- The Grizzlies shook up their front office this summer but General Manager Chris Wallace decided to more or less stay the course, writes Adi Joseph of USA Today Sports. Still, Memphis brought in Vince Carter to replace Mike Miller as the veteran swingman off the bench, and the team drafted two productive college players in Jordan Adams and Jarnell Stokes.
Eastern Notes: Magic, Heat, Knicks
After suffering a torn Achilles tendon almost nine months ago, Bobcats forward Jeff Taylor is working his way back towards full health, writes Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. “It’s been a long road,” Taylor said. “With an Achilles injury, you have to be really patient – slowly getting back all your strength, back to what you were.” Here’s more from the East..
- Magic newcomer Luke Ridnour perfectly fits what the team needs, writes Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel. The 33-year-old has a mature locker room presence, experience as a reserve guard, and still shows glimpses of solid play. Perhaps more importantly, he can show No. 10 overall pick Elfrid Payton Jr. the ropes.
- The staff at Basketball Insiders previewed the Heat for the upcoming season. Without LeBron James, none of the five writers have Miami winning the division. The consensus seems to be that they’ll be a playoff team, and maybe one with homecourt advantage, but the ceiling doesn’t go much higher than that.
- The Knicks haven’t named their D-League coach yet, but when they do, the final candidate will be familiar with the way Derek Fisher wants to play, writes Ian Begley of ESPN.com. “We’ve talked to a few candidates, very good candidates. We’re not there yet, we’re very close. But this is a very unique position because you want to have someone who is familiar with the way Derek wants to play and the system. But also [someone who is] familiar with the future and the landscape of the D-League and its process,” Westchester Knicks GM Allan Houston said.
Hoops Links: Lee, Matthews, Martin
On this date in 1991, USA Basketball announced the “Dream Team” for the 1992 Olympics. Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, and John Stockton were named to the team. Not bad. In May of the next year, Christian Laettner and Clyde Drexler were added to the squad.
Got a great basketball blog post that you want to see featured on Hoops Rumors? Send it to Zach at HoopsLinks@gmail.com. Here’s this week’s look around the basketball blogosphere…
- Grizzly Bear Blues has concerns about Courtney Lee.
- Blazer’s Edge says there’s a limit to how much the Blazers can pay for Wesley Matthews.
- Detroit Bad Boys talks Cartier Martin.
- Posting and Toasting wishes Josh Harrellson the best in Chongqing.
- Raptors HQ says Toronto doesn’t necessarily need a Canadian player.
- Thunderous Intentions looks at what Eric Bledsoe to the Wolves would mean for OKC.
Please send submissions for Hoops Links to Zach at HoopsLinks@gmail.com.
Hoops Rumors Originals
Here’s a look back at the original reporting and analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this week..
- We chatted with guard Elijah Millsap, who recently signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Bucks.
- Hoops Rumors confirmed Jordan Crawford‘s one-year deal with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association.
- Eddie Scarito reflected on the deal that brought Vince Carter to the Nets.
- Chuck Myron looked at Kemba Walker as an extension candidate.
- Hoops Rumors learned that former Rutgers sharpshooter Quincy Douby signed on with China’s Tianjin Lions.
- If you missed out on Chuck’s chat this week’s chat, you can get caught up with the transcript. Chuck is now hosting his weekly chat on Wednesdays at 3pm CT.
- Here’s a rundown of our handy features.
- Here are the teams that have started the season with a less-than-capacity roster to start the season in recent years.
- Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and your RSS feed.
Wolves Offer Eric Bledsoe Max Deal
4:53pm: The Suns have no interest in a sign-and-trade deal with Minnesota, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. According to Wojnarowski’s sources the Suns are only interested in trading Bledsoe for an All-Star, or a potential All-Star player, and had only considered Kevin Love in a possible sign-and-trade scenario with the Wolves.
3:53pm: The Suns own the Wolves’ 2015 first-round pick but it’s top-12 protected. Removing or reducing the protection could be a part of the Bledsoe talks, tweets Windhorst.
3:25pm: The Wolves are offering Eric Bledsoe a four-year, $63MM maximum level contract, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The offer turns up the heat on the Suns, who have offered the restricted free agent a four-year, $48MM deal. The Wolves don’t have the necessary cap room to sign the guard outright, so they’d have to swing a sign-and-trade deal with Phoenix.
Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reported yesterday that the Wolves were still in talks with the Suns on a sign-and-trade deal even after the completion of the Kevin Love deal. The possibility of the Wolves making a play for the 24-year-old seemed somewhat remote after Love was shipped to the Cavs, but it’s now very much a reality.
While the Suns and the Rich Paul client have been in a stalemate this summer, Phoenix was reportedly willing to dial up their offer if necessary. An increase of roughly $15MM probably wasn’t what they had in mind, however. Bledsoe’s camp made it known to Phoenix and every other team that he was only interested in signing a max contract. Otherwise, he said he was prepared to sign a one-year, $3.7MM qualifying offer with the Suns that would enable him to become an unencumbered free agent next summer. Fellow restricted free agent Greg Monroe made the same threat to the Pistons and made good on his promise earlier this summer.
In a sign-and-trade deal, the Suns would want Andrew Wiggins, according to Wolfson (on Twitter). That’s less-than-preferable for the Wolves, however, and that wouldn’t be a match, according to Wolfson. This is purely speculative, but since the Wolves were entertaining a Love-for-Bledsoe swap and Wiggins was the primary haul of the Love deal with Cleveland, it’s seems possible that the Wolves would consider including the No. 1 overall pick.
The Suns obviously want to keep Bledsoe (at the right price) but they would still have a very strong backcourt without the Kentucky product. The Suns have a highly-talented guard in Goran Dragic and the addition of free agent guard Isaiah Thomas on a four-year, $27MM deal would also lessen the sting. Phoenix also has first-round guard Tyler Ennis in reserve.
Bledsoe averaged 17.7 points and 5.5 assists across 43 games for the Suns last season after being traded from the Clippers. Unfortunately, he suffered a knee injury which cost him a good chunk of his 2013/14 campaign.
Jude LaCava of FOX 10 in Phoenix (on Twitter) first reported that the Wolves were prepared to offer Bledsoe a max deal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Eastern Notes: Hawks, Gibson, Cavs, Celtics
Scouts and executives admit that front office talk can be brutal, but they say Hawks GM Danny Ferry crossed the line with comments that are far from the usual chatter, writes Howard Beck of Bleacher Report. “I’ve never seen anything like what was in that report, just in terms of the language,” said a former team executive with nearly two decades of front-office experience. “I think most people would tell you that would be surprising. More out of the East..
- Privately, Bulls forward Taj Gibson isn’t too thrilled with the prospect of continuing to be a reserve, multiple people familiar with the situation tell Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com. Still, Gibson is an upbeat, team-first kind of player, Sam writes, and he values winning and chemistry too much to make it a distraction. It sounds like we shouldn’t expect any trade demands to come from Gibson anytime soon, though it might be a situation to monitor.
- The Heat took some heat for having too many older players on their roster and the Cavs are getting similar criticism this offseason. That’s not really fair, Zach Lowe of Grantland argues. LeBron’s two supporting stars are 26-year-old Kevin Love and 22-year-old Kyrie Irving, Cleveland has an extra first-rounder eventually coming from the Grizzlies, and there are valuable young guys including Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters, and Matthew Dellavedova.
- A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com looks at three Celtics players who are on the bubble heading into training camp. Shooting guard Marcus Thornton, forward/center Brandon Bass, and forward Gerald Wallace are all in jeopardy as the season draws near.