Nets Nearly Made Big Offer To Dwight Powell
- The Nets considered making a four-year, $48MM offer to Dwight Powell, Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com reports. Powell ended up re-signing with the Mavericks on a four-year, $37MM deal and the team has high hopes for the big man. “The last two years we’ve been working toward this period where we could get him signed to a longer-term deal and integrate him to our everyday rotation,” coach Rick Carlisle said.
Heat’s Riley: ‘Great Regret’ Over Losing Wade
During a news conference today in Miami, Heat president Pat Riley expressed his sorrow over losing free agent Dwyane Wade to the Bulls and said he should have done more to prevent it. “I have great regret I didn’t put myself in the middle of it,” Riley said in a quote relayed by Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel (Twitter link).
Wade officially signed with Chicago on Friday after reportedly being unhappy with the offers he was getting out of Miami. Riley says he wishes he had taken a more active role in the negotiations, adding that he should have “gotten in a canoe and paddled to The Mediterranean” if it meant keeping Wade, tweets Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post.
Riley said he had been trying to get “another guy” to pair with Wade since LeBron James returned to Cleveland in 2014 (Twitter link). He added that he hadn’t spoken to Wade since his decision, but has been putting together a long e-mail for him (Twitter link).
Wade, a 12-time All-Star, had been with the Heat since they drafted him in 2003. He is the franchise’s leader in career points, assists and several other categories.
“It’s not going to be the same without [Wade] but we will forge ahead,” Riley said. “Dwyane is unique. There will always be a key under the mat [for Dwyane], I just hope it doesn’t get too rusty. We will miss him.” (Twitter links).
Riley touched on several other topics during the news conference:
- Any decision on Chris Bosh’s future is “on hold” until August or September, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Bosh, who didn’t play after blood clots were discovered in his left calf during the All-Star break, would like to return next season, but the Heat aren’t sure if it’s medically feasible. Riley said the team is considering a restricted travel schedule or limited workload to help Bosh get back on the court (Twitter link). “I know Chris wants to play, and we would be open to that,” Riley said “But this is still fluid. There’s not an answer.” (Twitter link).
- Riley believes Justise Winslow is ready to be Miami’s starting small forward after a promising rookie season. “Are we ready for Justise Winslow to start at the 3,” Riley asked. “I am.” (Twitter link). The Heat lost last year’s starter when Luol Deng signed with the Lakers.
- The Heat offered a more balanced contract to Tyler Johnson than the deal he signed with the Nets, but Johnson insisted on taking the offer sheet from Brooklyn (Twitter link). That contract, which the Heat matched on Sunday, pays Johnson $5.628MM in the first year and $5,881,260 in the second, followed by $18,858,765 in season three and $19,631,975 in season four.
- Kevin Durant, who chose Miami as one of the five teams he met with in free agency, told Riley that he wants to win right away and viewed the Heat as being in a rebuilding phase (Twitter link). “I’ll never not take an offer from a free agent who calls and says we’d like to talk to you,” Riley said. “We had to do it, it didn’t slow us down.” (Twitter links).
- Riley is working toward a contract extension with head coach Erik Spoelstra and his staff (Twitter link).
- The Heat don’t plan to use their $2.9MM room exception this offseason. (Twitter link).
Nets Sign Randy Foye
7:42pm: Foye’s one-year deal is worth $2.5MM, tweets ESPN’s Marc Stein.
JULY 15, 1:07pm: The signing is official, the Nets announced via press release.
JULY 14, 12:05pm: After missing out on their top targets last week, the Nets continue to move on to alternate options in free agency. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter), the team has reached an agreement on a one-year deal with shooting guard Randy Foye.
The Nets attempted to add some talent and youth to their backcourt early in free agency by signing Tyler Johnson and Allen Crabbe to offer sheets. However, the Heat and Blazers, respectively, matched those offer sheets, and Brooklyn has turned to veteran free agents since then, agreeing to deals with Greivis Vasquez, Luis Scola, and Anthony Bennett.
[RELATED: Nets’ free agent signings, via our Free Agent Tracker]
A former seventh overall pick, Foye has played for the Timberwolves, Wizards, Clippers, Jazz, Nuggets, and Thunder over the course of his 10-year NBA career. Last season, he appeared in a total of 81 games for Denver and Oklahoma City, averaging a career-low 5.9 PPG, and shooting just 30.0% from three-point range, also the worst mark of his career.
Foye is only three years removed from a 2013/14 campaign in which he started 78 games and averaged 13.2 PPG and 2.3 3PG, and at age 32, he should still have something left in the tank. Joining the Nets, whose roster isn’t exactly loaded with talent, could give him the opportunity to earn consistent playing time in 2016/17. If he has a bounce-back season, he could land a decent deal as a free agent in the summer of 2017, when the salary cap exceeds $100MM.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hawks Sign Jarrett Jack
JULY 15: Jack is officially a Hawk, the team confirmed today in a press release.
JULY 10: Free agent point guard Jarrett Jack has agreed to a one-year deal with the Hawks, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical. The contract is for the league minimum.
The 32-year-old Jack had his season cut short when he suffered a torn ACL in January. Before the injury, he appeared in 32 games for the Nets, all starts, and averaged 12.8 points and 7.4 assists. Brooklyn waived Jack at the end of June after unsuccessfully trying to find a trading partner. He was scheduled to make $6.3MM next season, but only $500K of that was guaranteed if he was cut before July.
Jack will probably back up Dennis Schroder in Atlanta. The Hawks needed point guard depth after trading Jeff Teague to the Pacers.
Jack said his rehab from the torn ACL is going “very well,” tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nets Latest Team To Gamble On Bennett
- The Nets will try to get more out of Anthony Bennett than he produced in his first three NBA stops, writes Bud Shaw of Cleveland.com. Shaw contends that former Cavaliers GM Chris Grant’s decision to take Bennett, who reached an agreement Thursday on a deal with Brooklyn, first overall in 2013 was the biggest mistake in the Cavs’ draft history.
Nets Sign First-Round Pick Caris LeVert
The Nets have signed first-round pick Caris LeVert to his four-year, rookie-scale contract, the team announced today in a press release. LeVert was formally selected by the Pacers in last month’s draft, but Indiana was making the pick on behalf of the Nets, who had agreed to send Thaddeus Young to the Pacers in exchange for the No. 20 overall selection.
LeVert, 21, was something of a surprise pick at No. 20 for the Nets, given his health issues in recent years. In his junior and senior seasons at Michigan, LeVert appeared in only 31 total games, playing just over 15 minutes per contest. The young guard flashed plenty of potential, averaging 16.4 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 4.9 APG in his senior year, but he’ll have to shake the injury-prone label in the NBA.
As our breakdown of salaries for 2016’s first-round picks shows, LeVert will be in line for a first-year salary of about $1.562MM, with an overall value of about $7.523MM on his four-year rookie contract.
The Nets previously signed second-round pick Isaiah Whitehead.
Nets, Anthony Bennett Reach Agreement
Former first overall pick Anthony Bennett has reached an agreement on a new contract with the Nets, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). According to Charania, it’ll be a two-year, minimum-salary contract, with a guaranteed salary in year one.
Michael Scotto of The Associated Press (Twitter link) first reported that talks between Bennett and the Nets were in the “advanced stages,” with the two sides nearing a deal. He confirms that an agreement is in place, tweeting that the second year features a partial guarantee.
We heard over the weekend that Brooklyn had interest in Bennett, and that wasn’t the first time the team and player had been linked. The former UNLV power forward was invited to the Nets’ mini-camp for free agents in late May and seemingly made a positive impression on the club’s decision-makers. Bennett also
The first player taken in the 2013 draft, Bennett never developed into the sort of player the Cavaliers hoped he would. After one season in Cleveland, Bennett was sent to Minnesota as part of the trade package for Kevin Love. Last season, the Canadian appeared in 19 games for the Raptors, averaging just 4.4 minutes in those contests.
The Nets remain well below the salary floor, and Bennett’s deal will only take up a small portion of the team’s cap room, so the team still has flexibility to spend.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nets Sign Luis Scola
JULY 13, 10:17pm: The Nets have issued a press release formally announcing that their deal with Scola is official.
JULY 12, 11:23am: Veteran big man Luis Scola has agreed to join the Nets on a one-year contract, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Terms of the deal aren’t yet known, but Brooklyn has plenty of cap room to spare after missing out on its top RFA targets, so Scola won’t necessarily be limited to minimum-salary or mid-level-exception money.
The Nets prioritized young backcourt players in free agency this summer, signing Allen Crabbe and Tyler Johnson to lucrative, long-term offer sheets. However, the Trail Blazers matched Brooklyn’s offer sheet for Crabbe, and the Heat matched Brooklyn’s offer sheet for Johnson, leaving the Nets with a huge chunk of cap room and a gaping hole in their backcourt.
[RELATED: Brooklyn Nets’ depth chart at RosterResource.com]
Scola shouldn’t take up too much of the team’s cap space, and he’ll provide depth in the frontcourt rather than at guard. Despite having turned 36 in April, the Argentinian power forward has managed to stay incredibly healthy over the last few years, missing just 15 total regular-season games since entering the NBA in 2007.
In 2015/16, his lone year with the Raptors, Scola started all 76 regular-season games he played for the Raptors, averaging 8.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 0.9 APG, while shooting 40.4% on three-point attempts — 65 of the 75 three-pointers Scola has made in his career came last season.
The former second-round pick fell out of the Raptors’ rotation during the club’s playoff run, but he provided veteran leadership in Toronto last season, and should do the same in Brooklyn. He’ll join Jeremy Lin, Greivis Vasquez, Trevor Booker, and Justin Hamilton as incoming free agent additions for the Nets.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nets Sign Greivis Vasquez
JULY 13, 10:15pm: The Nets have officially signed Vasquez, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 10, 8:56pm: Greivis Vasquez has agreed to a one-year deal with the Nets, tweets The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Vasquez missed most of the 2015/16 season after undergoing surgery on his right ankle in December.
Vasquez appeared in 29 games for the Bucks this year, all as a reserve. He averaged 5.7 points and 4.0 assists in 20.0 minutes of playing time. Vasquez has also been with the Grizzlies, Hornets, Kings and Raptors during his six seasons in the NBA.
He joins a Brooklyn team that also added point guard Jeremy Lin through free agency and may be seeking more backcourt help after offer sheets to Allen Crabbe and Tyler Johnson were matched earlier today.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Community Shootaround: Most Improved Lottery Team In East?
This past spring, the Bulls, Wizards, Magic, Bucks, Knicks, Nets, and 76ers all failed to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, finishing in the lottery. All seven of those teams have been very active so far this offseason, signing free agents and adding players to their roster via trades and/or the draft.
The Bulls and Knicks have perhaps been the most visible of the Eastern lottery teams in recent weeks, beginning with the five-player trade they completed that sent Derrick Rose to New York and Robin Lopez to Chicago. Since then, the Bulls have added Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo in free agency, while the Knicks have signed Joakim Noah, Courtney Lee, and Brandon Jennings, among others.
The two lottery teams from the Southeast – the Wizards and Magic – have also undergone some roster upheaval this summer. Washington re-upped restricted free agent Bradley Beal and made changes elsewhere, bringing in Ian Mahinmi, Andrew Nicholson, and Jason Smith, while letting go of Nene, Jared Dudley, and Ramon Sessions. Orlando was even more active, re-signing Evan Fournier, trading for Serge Ibaka, and adding D.J. Augustin, Jeff Green, and Bismack Biyombo.
The Bucks have been a little quieter, but they secured a pair of solid role players in free agency, signing Matthew Dellavedova and Mirza Teletovic. They also drafted Thon Maker, adding another athletic prospect with upside to a promising young core.
Like Milwaukee, the Sixers didn’t make a huge splash, but with Gerald Henderson, Jerryd Bayless, and Sergio Rodriguez entering the mix, the rebuilding franchise has more of a veteran presence. And if Dario Saric finalizes a deal with Philadelphia, the club feels it has three players – Saric, Joel Embiid, and No. 1 pick Ben Simmons – capable of competing for the Rookie of the Year award.
Finally, the Nets missed out on two RFA targets, when their offer sheets for Tyler Johnson and Allen Crabbe were matched. Their other free agent signings, including Jeremy Lin, Greivis Vasquez, Trevor Booker, Luis Scola, and Justin Hamilton – have been modest.
Today’s discussion question focuses on these seven teams, and their offseason transactions. Which team do you think improved the most? Which series of moves do you like best? Which of these non-playoff teams do you think is most likely to end up qualifying for the postseason next spring?
Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the Bulls, Wizards, Magic, Bucks, Knicks, Nets, and Sixers. We look forward to hearing what you have to say.