Atlantic Notes: 76ers, Celtics, Love, Clark
Philadelphia sports fans are notoriously impatient, but Tom Moore of The Intelligencer has found that many are taking a glass-half-full view of things with the Sixers under GM Sam Hinkie. “There is no guaranteed path to a title,” one fan said to Moore. “But I like that they have a plan and are sticking to it. I choose optimism.” Here’s more out of the Atlantic..
- The Celtics could get in the mix for Kevin Love or another superstar, but they won’t make a deal that they don’t feel is worth it, writes Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. “Danny [Ainge] has been very disciplined,” Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca said. “He could have made a lot of deals by now, but not for the kind of player we want.” And while C’s owner Wyc Grousbeck famously predicted that there would be “fireworks,” Pagliuca says that refers more to Ainge’s tireless efforts to improve rather than a guarantee of a blockbuster deal.
- Because the Celtics are in rebuilding mode, Ainge can now afford to bring in players with either soiled reputations, tradeable contracts, or the ability to blossom. That thinking has led the C’s to Evan Turner, who should be a strong fit for Boston, writes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Agent David Falk believes that Turner and coach Brad Stevens will be a particularly solid match.
- Earl Clark has received interest from a number of teams since free agency started three weeks ago, but he continues to weigh his options, writes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. “I’ve been hearing from a few teams, but it’s not anything that I’m jumping at right now,” said Clark, who spent last season with the Knicks and Cavs. “It’s been different, man. I’ve been a free agent a few times and this summer seems like it’s going in slow motion. I’m just giving it time and going through the process. I just want the right situation and the opportunity to play. That’s all I want – the opportunity to get out there, play, help the team and prove myself again.”
Hoops Rumors Originals
Here’s a look back at the original analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this week..
- Chuck Myron ran down the teams limited to paying the minimum salary.
- Here are the teams with hard caps for 2014/15, courtesy of Chuck.
- Wondering how the Cavs/Jazz trade worked financially? Chuck has the deetz.
- Chuck gives us a reminder of how summer contracts work.
- I asked Hoops Rumors readers who will have the better 2014/15 season: Evan Turner or Danny Granger.
- Eddie Scarito asked readers if the Cavs should trade Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love. Most of you said no.
- Chuck explained Exhibit 9 contracts.
- If you’re not using the Hoops Rumors 2014 Free Agent Tracker, you should be. Get caught up here.
- Play nice, everyone. Review our commenting policy here.
- Here are the players who have signed qualifying offers.
- Here’s an update on the remaining restricted free agents.
- If you missed out on this week’s chat, check out the transcript here.
Week In Review: 7/21/14 – 7/27/14
The Bulls are offering a package of Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott for Kevin Love, but the Wolves say the Cavs’ offer is still their favorite. Still, even though they prefer Cleveland’s package, it wasn’t enough to woo them to move Love just yet. More from the week that was..
- The Sixers, Nuggets, and Celtics are among the clubs trying to line themselves up as a third team in a Love swap. Meanwhile, Love may be pushing for a trade to Cleveland.
- The Lakers and Byron Scott appear to be nearing a deal.
- The NBPA executive search has been shaken up.
- The Pistons are telling Josh Smith that the trade rumors involving the Kings were inaccurate, but that might not be the case.
- Chris Paul is mulling a boycott if Donald Sterling stays. Doc Rivers is having similar thoughts.
- Ray Allen is still mulling retirement but is leaning towards joining up with the Cavs.
- The Cavs signed Andrew Wiggins and they can’t move him for 30 days from the date of signing.
- The Hawks and Shelvin Mack have struck agreement on a three-year, $7.3MM deal.
- The Mavs added Jameer Nelson.
- The Nets signed draft-and-stash prospect Bojan Bogdanovic.
- Three teams are eyeing Dahntay Jones.
- The Sixers remain interested in Dion Waiters.
- The Celtics added Evan Turner.
- The Kings will sign Omri Casspi to a one-year pact after he cleared waivers.
- The Mavericks have nullified their contract with Rashard Lewis after a right knee injury requiring surgery was discovered during his team physical.
- The Bulls told Nikola Mirotic that they won’t trade him.
- The Rockets signed rookie guard Nick Johnson to a three-year deal.
- The Nuggets signed Jusuf Nurkic.
- The Bulls signed Aaron Brooks.
- The Bulls also inked first-round pick Doug McDermott.
- The Hawks signed No. 15 overall pick Adreian Payne.
- The Hornets signed Noah Vonleh.
- The Rockets will sign Clint Capela.
- The Thunder and first-round pick Josh Huestis cut a D-League deal prior to the draft.
- There’s mutual interest between the Rockets and Francisco Garcia.
- The Wolves re-signed Robbie Hummel.
- The Suns waived Dionte Christmas.
- The Mavs will sign Al-Farouq Aminu.
- Top 2015 draft prospect Emmanuel Mudiay will play in China.
- The Heat and Pacers like Chris Singleton.
- The Knicks waived Shannon Brown.
- The Cavs acquired three players on non-guaranteed deals from the Jazz.
- The Kings arena plan has cleared its final legal hurdle.
- The Pistons and second-round pick Spencer Dinwiddie have agreed to a three-year pact.
- The Cavs and Raptors are eyeing Will Cherry.
- Free agent shooting guard Patrick Christopher has agreed to a non-guaranteed deal with the Grizzlies.
- The Raptors will sign Lucas Nogueira.
- Former Raptors point guard Dwight Buycks has signed with Valencia of Spain rather than sign in the NBA.
- The Nuggets signed Erick Green.
- The Nets signed Markel Brown as well as Cory Jefferson.
- The Sixers have signed point guard Pierre Jackson to a partially guaranteed one-year deal.
- The Pelicans signed Patric Young.
- The Cavs signed Joe Harris.
- The Bulls signed Cameron Bairstow.
- Seth Curry is weighing overseas options.
- Michael Jenkins will join the Nets for camp.
- The Magic signed second-round pick Devyn Marble.
- D-League president Dan Reed resigned.
Wolves Re-Sign Robbie Hummel
WEDNESDAY, 3:23pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
MONDAY, 8:28pm: Robbie Hummel has re-signed with the Wolves, according to his reps at Priority Sports (on Twitter). It’s a fully-guaranteed one-year, $900K pact, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (on Twitter).
The Wolves declined to extend Hummel a qualifying offer of $1.016MM at the end of June, but less than a month later they’ve agreed to a deal that pays just ~$100K less. Last season, the 25-year-old averaged 3.4 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 12.4 minutes per contest across 53 games (five starts).
The swingman was taken with the No. 58 pick in the 2012 draft, signed with a Spanish team later that summer, and circled back to the T’Wolves prior to the 2013/14 season.
Cavs, Andrew Wiggins Near Deal
WEDNESDAY, 2:59pm: The Cavs expect that they’ll receive a signed contract from Wiggins on Thursday, tweets Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal.
SUNDAY, 6:25pm: The Cavs are planning to sign No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins to a contract in the coming week, a source close to the process tells Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Wiggins, of course, has been linked to the Kevin Love talks, but the hold up in the deal reportedly wasn’t related to those discussions.
The Cavs, sources say, are merely exploring options for using their estimated $1.4MM in remaining cap space before signing Wiggins to a contract that will pay him in the neighborhood of $5.5MM as a rookie. The Cavs and Timberwolves have been discussing a Love trade since the return of LeBron James, with sources saying that Minnesota is insistent on getting Wiggins back in any deal that sends Love to Cleveland. Once Wiggins signs, though, league rules stipulate that the Cavs must wait 30 days before trading him.
One option under consideration for the Cavs, sources say, is using their leftover salary-cap space to create long-term contracts for recent second-round picks Joe Harris and Dwight Powell. Signing Wiggins first would preclude such moves.
Once the Cavs exhaust their cap space and sign Wiggins, they are expected to officially sign free agent Mike Miller to a two-year, $5.6MM deal. The Cavs also remain interested in free agent Ray Allen, but they’ll only be able to offer him a $1.4MM veteran’s minimum contract.
Hornets Sign Brian Roberts
JULY 23RD: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
JULY 13TH: The Hornets are set to sign Brian Roberts to a two-year, $5.5MM+ deal, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
Late last week, Wojnarowski reported that Roberts was No. 1 on Charlotte’s wish list as they searched for a backup to point guard Kemba Walker. The Pistons and Grizzlies were also said to have had interest.
In two seasons with New Orleans, Roberts has averaged 8.2 PPG and 3.0 APG in 19.9 minutes per contest while shooting 37.2% from the outside. The former University of Dayton standout has a slightly below-average PER of 14.0 for his NBA career.
And-Ones: Jefferson, Spurs, Sterling
One year after joining the Hornets (née Bobcats) as a free agent, Al Jefferson is happy with the moves the club has made this summer, writes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. “We just need to continue to build off of what we what we did last year,” Jefferson said. “We know that if we play defense and focus on defense, we will have a chance to win. That’s one of the things that I did last year that I’ve never done before, just really buying in to the defensive end. I believe us finishing sixth in the NBA in defense was the reason why we had the success we had. We just have to continue to build off that.” More from around the NBA..
- The Spurs didn’t just win the championship, they won the offseason too, writes J.A. Adande of ESPN.com. The Spurs didn’t make the most eye-grabbing move of the summer – the Cavs, of course, grabbed that honor – but they did retain four key components of their title run: Tim Duncan, coach Gregg Popovich, Patrick Mills, and Boris Diaw.
- Embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling met with Steve Ballmer and Shelly Sterling, sources tell Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. No settlement was reached, but the two men had what a source described as a “friendly” conversation about the pending sale. This was the first face-to-face meeting between the two men since the sale, which Sterling continues to fight in court.
- A couple of NBA scouts told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter) that they’d love to see URI rising sophomore E.C. Matthews at the Adidas Nations camp. Matthews averaged 14.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 2.3 APG in 32.5 minutes per contest last season under coach Dan Hurley.
Eastern Notes: Williams, LeBron, Love
Nine years after leading the North Carolina men’s basketball team to a national championship, Marvin Williams is thrilled to return the Tar Heel state as a member of the Hornets, writes Steve Reed of The Associated Press. Meanwhile, at the introductory presser, head coach Steve Clifford said that while he views the 6’9″ Williams as a combo forward, he believes his best position is at the four. Here’s more out of the East..
- Maverick Carter, LeBron James‘ business partner, says he didn’t push James to return to the Cavaliers, nor did anyone else in his inner circle. “This was a decision that LeBron made in his heart,” Carter told ESPN.com’s Jason Whitlock. “We didn’t push him to do it. We don’t push him to do anything. If he asks our opinion or what did we think about the pros and the cons, we help him think through it. We don’t push him.”
- Should the Cavs trade for Kevin Love? Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski sure thinks so. “There’s absolutely not one second of hesitancy. I’d trade for Kevin Love,” Krzyzewski said on the John Feinstein Show, according to the Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press. “That’s not saying anything bad about any of the other (players reportedly involved in a trade). Love’s an all-star. He’s a double-double guy, but he’s a double-double guy that can spread the floor,” Coach K said.
- The Wizards still have $4.3MM of their Trevor Ariza trade exception after using some of it on Kris Humphries, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Speaking of that sign-and-trade deal for Hump, the Wizards sent a 2015 second-rounder to the Celtics. It’ll be top-49 protected, according to Pincus (link).
- Sixers second-round picks K.J. McDaniels, Jerami Grant, and Jordan McRae are out to show they were draft steals, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I definitely feel like I can play in this league,” said McRae, who spoke with Hoops Rumors before the June draft. “Just getting a chance to play against guys like [Bulls rookies] Tony Snell, Doug McDermott, it was just playing hard against them and see where I stack up.”
Contract Details: Collison, Young, Hinrich
The difference between Darren Collison‘s first year salary and the $5.305MM mid-level exception is precisely equivalent to the rookie minimum salary, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders points out (on Twitter). That allows the Kings to use that remaining portion of their mid-level to sign a rookie for three or four years rather than just the two that the minimum-salary exception would allow. Here’s a round up of the latest contract details to come to light this evening..
- Nick Young will make $4,994,420 this season and $21.3MM over the course of his four-year contract with Lakers, according to Pincus (on Twitter). Swaggy P’s new deal with the Lakers became official earlier today.
- Kirk Hinrich‘s new deal with the Bulls includes a 15% trade kicker, Pincus tweets. In 73 games (61 starts) last season for the Bulls, Hinrich averaged 9.1 PPG and 3.9 APG in 29 minutes per contest. Hinrich has put up a 10.8 PER over the last two seasons, a far cry from the 17.0 PER he put up in his best season for the Bulls (2006-07).
- The third and final year of Kris Humphries‘ contract with the Wizards is non-guaranteed, tweets Pincus. It was previously unclear whether that third year was non-guaranteed or simply a team option.
- Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter) has the goods on Ryan Kelly‘s two-year deal with the Lakers. Kelly will earn $1.65MM in 2014/15 and ~$1.72MM in 2015/16.
- Trevor Booker‘s deal with the Jazz has just $250K guaranteed in year two, Pincus tweets. It was previously reported that the second season on Booker’s deal was not fully guaranteed.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Poll: Evan Turner Vs. Danny Granger
Earlier today, the Celtics reached agreement on a deal for a portion of the mid-level exception with Evan Turner. Of course, the former No. 2 overall pick was shipped from the Sixers to the Pacers mid-season in a trade of NBA notables. Danny Granger, who went to Philly, signed with the Heat earlier this month in hopes of joining up with LeBron James. While that part of the plan didn’t quite pan out, Granger will nonetheless look to get his career back on track in a reserve role for Miami.
In 54 games for Philly last season, Turner averaged 17.4 PPG and 6.0 RPG with a career-high (but still below league average) 13.2 PER. Things wound up dropping off when Turner was sent to the Pacers as he averaged 7.1 PPG and 3.2 RPG with a 9.7 PER – a total lower than any he’s had in any full season.
Granger, meanwhile, came to the Clippers (after his release from the 76ers) with hopes of boosting his stock before hitting the open market in the summer. That didn’t quite pan out. Granger averaged 8.3 PPG and 3.6 RPG in 22.5 minutes per night for the Pacers after returning from injury and his numbers only saw a slight uptick when he headed to L.A. Of course, on a two-year, $4.2MM deal, he’s a very worthwhile risk for the Heat if he can get back to being half the player he once was.
Between Granger and Turner, who do you see having the more successful 2014/15 campaign?