Nets Rumors: Marks, Bargnani, Brown, Prokhorov
Sean Marks made his first transaction as GM of the Nets today, parting ways with Andrea Bargnani in what is believed to be a buyout deal. Today’s move creates an open roster spot that Marks has the option to fill. With a 15-40 record, a flawed roster, an interim coach and no first-round picks for two of the next three drafts, Marks recognized the huge task ahead when he was officially hired by the Nets on Thursday.
There’s more news tonight about Marks and his plans for the future in Brooklyn:
- The new GM wants to pattern the Nets organization after what he saw as an assistant coach and later an assistant GM in San Antonio, according to Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and GM R.C. Buford are recognized as among the best in the business, and Marks thinks he can pass on the knowledge he learned from them. “The relationship that Pop and R.C. had together, nothing was done without the other not knowing,” Marks said. “So that’s important. It’s inclusive, it’s a partnership. That’s what I’ll be looking for not only in a head coach, but the relationship that I have with ownership and the relationship that I have with all my staff.”
- Interim coach Tony Brown will probably retain that role through the end of the season, Mahoney writes in the same story. Brown is 5-13 since taking over for Lionel Hollins. Marks hopes to hire a permanent coach in the next few months.
- Defense will be the main criteria in hiring a new coach, tweets Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily. “Whoever we bring in here is gonna play team basketball,” Marks said, “and whoever the coach is will have a defensive mindset.”
- Dmitry Razumov, chairman of the Nets’ board of directors, told Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post that the organization held official interviews with eight GM candidates, but Marks’ San Antonio background was “too persuasive” (Twitter link).
- Marks and owner Mikhail Prokhorov have agreed to expand the entire Nets’ staff, including the scouting department, writes Laura Albanese of Newsday. Marks wants to hire some of his own personnel, and the expansion should happen over the next two to four months. Marks noted Prokhorov’s investments in a new training facility and a new D-League affiliate and said the owner “is willing to spend the money in the right places.’’
Atlantic Notes: Bargnani, Fredette, Sampson
Andrea Bargnani was a disappointment for both New York-area teams, writes Peter Botte of The New York Daily News. The Nets waived the 30-year-old forward this afternoon in Sean Marks‘ first official act since taking over as GM. The move is believed to be a buyout deal, but details have not been made available. The split comes barely seven months after Brooklyn signed Bargnani to a free agent deal worth $1,362,897 this season with a $1,551,659 player option for 2016/17. He averaged 6.6 points and 13.8 minutes of playing time in 46 games off the Nets’ bench.
The Knicks paid a much higher price for Bargnani when they acquired him from Toronto in 2013. They sent this year’s first-round pick to the Raptors, along with Steve Novak, Quentin Richardson, Marcus Camby and second-rounders in 2014 and 2017. Bargnani played just 71 games in two seasons with New York.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- The Knicks are expected to sign Jimmer Fredette to a 10-day contract Monday, and the team will see if the 26-year-old can do more than score, Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press writes. “We’ve got to see if he can actually handle the basketball and be able to create shots for himself and create shots for others,” interim coach Kurt Rambis said.
- Sixers GM Sam Hinkie said Robert Covington, Hollis Thompson and T.J. McConnell were among the players who received interest on the trade market prior to the deadline, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays.
- Several of JaKarr Sampson‘s Sixers teammates were disappointed that he was waived to make room the trade that netted Joel Anthony and a 2017 second-round pick, Pompey writes in a separate piece. Philadelphia is expected to release Anthony, and the team hopes to re-sign Sampson if he clears waivers Sunday, according to Pompey. Sampson, a second-year swingman, is popular in the locker room and has earned a reputation as a hard-working defensive specialist. “It’s always hard to waive anybody, much less a guy that’s busted his tail to be the best player that he can be,” Hinkie said. “That’s exactly the kind of people we like to work with.”
- Even if the Raptors could have obtained a starting-caliber power forward, such as Markieff Morris or Ryan Anderson, the team wouldn’t have been any closer to contention, which made standing pat a good move, Brett Koremenos of RealGM opines.
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Nets Waive Bargnani In Apparent Buyout Deal
The Nets have waived Andrea Bargnani, the team announced via press release. The sides were in buyout talks, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported earlier today, so it would seem the former No. 1 overall pick has agreed to give back part of his salary. Bargnani signed a two-year, minimum salary contract this past summer that was to give him $1,362,897 this season with a player option worth $1,551,659 for next year.
The sides have appeared headed for a buyout for the past few days, with Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reporting this week that a buyout was almost certain to happen if the Nets didn’t trade Bargnani by Thursday’s deadline. The 30-year-old Bargnani’s 6.6 points and 13.8 minutes per game are career lows by a wide margin, though he recorded a season-high 25 minutes in an 18-point performance against the Pistons less than three weeks ago, on February 1st.
He’ll be postseason-eligible for any team he might sign with if he clears waivers. He’s also a candidate for a waiver claim, since all 29 teams are eligible to snag him, as Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports points out (on Twitter).
Nets, Andrea Bargnani Start Buyout Talks
The Nets and Andrea Bargnani have begun negotiations on a buyout, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). It’s no surprise, as Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports earlier this week identified the former No. 1 overall pick among those almost certain to end up doing buyouts if they weren’t traded by Thursday’s deadline. Bargnani is in the first season of a two-year contract for the minimum salary that includes a player option for next year, so the buyout talks have implications that are liable to affect Brooklyn’s cap flexibility for the summer ahead.
The 30-year-old Bargnani missed Friday’s game with an illness and today’s practice because of personal reasons, notes Brian Lewis of the New York Post (Twitter link). He was also out for the final two games before the All-Star break. The Nets have given him only 13.8 minutes per game, a career low by a wide margin, and with 6.6 points per outing, he’s in line to finish a season with a scoring average in the single digits for the first time.
The Leon Rose client essentially has until March 1st to strike a buyout deal. That’s the final day a player can hit waivers and retain eligibility to appear in the playoffs with another team. His nine-year veteran’s minimum salary for this season is $1,362,897, with $1,551,659 scheduled to come his way next season. The Nets have about $45MM in guaranteed salary on the books for 2016/17, not including Bargnani’s option. The cap for next season is estimated to come in at between $89MM and $95MM.
Hornets Sign Jorge Gutierrez To 10-Day Pact
SATURDAY, 12:03pm: The signing is official, the team announced.
FRIDAY, 7:37pm: The Hornets intend to sign free agent point guard Jorge Gutierrez to a 10-day deal, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor relays (on Twitter). Charlotte currently has a vacant roster spot with only 14 players under contract, so no corresponding move will be required to add Gutierrez. He will act as the team’s third point guard, Reichert notes.
The 27-year-old was in training camp with the Bucks earlier this season but failed to secure a regular season roster slot. Gutierrez dished out 11 assists against only three turnovers in approximately 47 minutes of preseason action, notching a total of 12 points along the way, but it wasn’t enough for him to stick with the team. The playmaker has appeared in a total of 35 NBA contests in his career, owning averages of 3.3 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists to accompany a slash line of .495/.200/.720.
Gutierrez has appeared in 22 games this season for the Canton Charge, the Cavs’ D-League affiliate, and he’s averaging 11.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.7 assists in 27.8 minutes per outing. His shooting line is .431/.205/.844.
Atlantic Notes: Okafor, Marks, Frazier
The Celtics came close to pulling off a significant trade involving the Nets‘ 2016 first round pick prior to Thursday’s trade deadline, but the other team pulled out at the last minute, team executive Danny Ainge relayed in a radio appearance on the “Toucher & Rich” show (h/t Dan Feldman of NBCSports.com). “We were very close,” Ainge said. “One story I can probably share with you is – I can’t tell you the team or the name – but it was very close. It was something we had been deliberating on for two days straight. The other team was doing that. And we were wrapping ourselves around a big package to do a deal. And at the very last minute, they just said they did not want to do it. They just backed out. So, it was a deal that was talked about, thought about. And that was probably the closest that we came. We were willing to do one deal, and it just didn’t happen. Both teams weren’t ready to go. And it was a really, tough close deal. And it was certainly not a no-brainer. There was risk on both sides’ part. But at the end of the day, both teams were not ready to do it.”
Though Ainge declined to name both the player and the team he was referring to in the radio spot, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald hears that the talks centered around Sixers rookie center Jahlil Okafor. While fans of both Boston and Philadelphia are left to ponder what might have been if that trade had been consummated, here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- New GM Sean Marks‘ contract with the Nets is a four-year deal that will pay him in excess of $9MM over that span, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).
- The Knicks considered signing point guard Tim Frazier, whom the Blazers waived Thursday, but New York instead decided on D-League shooting guard Jimmer Fredette, whom they plan to ink to a 10-day deal, Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal relays (via Twitter).
- The Sixers parted ways with JaKarr Sampson on Thursday, but the second-year player had all good things to say about his former team despite being waived, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, having earlier reported that the Sixers want to re-sign him if he clears waivers. “I don’t have anything negative to say about Philly,” Sampson said. “I feel like a lot of people in my situation might have something negative to say about Philly, like a ‘why-me’ type of thing. But I don’t have anything negative to say about the organization. I love those guys. They showed me a lot of love since I’ve been there. The fan base and everything … are great people. Even though we were losing, they still showed us love because we played hard.”
And-Ones: Marks, Foye, Lee
Thunder GM Sam Presti referred to the trade with Denver that netted the team Randy Foye, as well as saved the team approximately $9.8MM in cap commitments, as “smart business,” Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman relays (Twitter link). “The roster spot clearly gives us some flexibility to survey other opportunities to improve,” Presti said. “Then financially, that obviously wasn’t the intent of the deal, but because of the presence of Dakari Johnson, Semaj Christon and Alex Abrines in the drafts that we’ve had previously, we feel pretty good about those guys. So the draft choices in this particular draft were more valuable to Denver. And the money that we were able to save, the way that we’ve operated here, that allows us to reinvest in the team and clearly our team is going to become more and more expensive.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Bucks didn’t make a deal prior to Thursday’s trade deadline and a big reason was that the team considers Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker to be virtually untouchable, Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel writes. One of the duo would likely have had to be included in any swap for a big-name player, which was a non-starter as far as the franchise was concerned, notes Gardner. “Those guys are vault guys,” coach Jason Kidd said. “They’re in the vault. You don’t start a conversation with Jabari or Giannis. There’s no conversation to be had, right. So word gets around that those guys are untradeable.“
- The Celtics came close to dealing David Lee, who was waived earlier today, and viewed his expiring contract as a means to work a swap for a marquee player at the trade deadline, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes. “We almost had trades a few times, or thought there was a possibility,” team executive Danny Ainge said. “His [Lee] contract was a good way for us to get into a lot of the conversations we had.“
- Dmitry Razumov, the chairman of the Nets‘ board of directors, indicated that new GM Sean Marks will guide the team’s search for a new head coach but team ownership will also have input in the process, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com relays (ESPN NOW link). The team is likely to strongly consider San Antonio assistant coach Ettore Messina for the vacant slot, Frank Isola of The New York Daily News opined when Marks’ hiring was first announced.
- The Blazers sent $75K to the Heat in exchange for point guard Brian Roberts, which is the minimum allowable amount per league rules, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
Cavs Top Non-Nets Wish List For Joe Johnson
Joe Johnson would sign with the Cavaliers if he works a buyout with the Nets and reaches free agency, sources tell Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Haynes earlier this month identified Cleveland’s interest in Johnson for the buyout market, but multiple reports since then have indicated that a buyout is unlikely for the 15th-year veteran who’s making almost $24,895MM on an expiring contract this season. The Nets understand the financial terms it would take to work a buyout with the 34-year-old sharpshooter, and for them, it’s a matter of whether the savings would be enough to justify a move that would help the Cavs, sources have explained to Haynes.
Johnson said recently that he’ll place a priority on winning when he picks his next team, but he wouldn’t dismiss the idea of re-signing with the Nets when his contract expires this summer. That suggests he’s in no hurry to do a buyout, and Haynes hears he isn’t giving a buyout a ton of thought. The Heat would also reportedly be interested in Johnson if he were to become available.
Cleveland has two open roster spots, though filling either of them, or both, would add to the team’s league-high projected tax bill. The Cavs nonetheless trimmed an estimated $10MM in combined salary and would-be tax penalties in a pair of trades Thursday.
Eastern Notes: Horford, Calderon, Harris
The Hawks took center Al Horford off the market at approximately 1pm today, Chris Broussard of ESPN.com relays (Twitter links). Prospective trade partners were wary of Horford’s impending free agency, which made the offers Atlanta received less than enticing, Broussard adds. Point guard Jeff Teague was available until the final minutes of the deadline, with the Bucks and Nets expressing the most interest, the ESPN scribe notes.
Here’s the latest from the East:
- Despite their best efforts, the Raptors were unable to upgrade their power forward position prior to the NBA trade deadline today, Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca notes. The lack of a significant deal wasn’t due to the team’s lack of effort, with Toronto checking in on virtually every player rumored to be available, but the team found the asking prices simply too steep to pull the trigger, Lewenberg adds. “There was nothing there good enough for us, we felt,” GM Masai Ujiri said. “Anything that was good enough we felt, we just didn’t want to give up the future of our team for any of the stuff that was out there.”
- Knicks point guard Jose Calderon noted that one reason his numbers have taken a hit is New York’s triangle offense, a system not conducive to gaudy stats from playmakers, Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News relays. “It doesn’t matter how I play,” Calderon said. “Sometimes when you maybe get off on the wrong foot or people don’t know you as a player and expect something else. It’s tough to change those minds. So I’m pretty good with the way I am, the way I do stuff, the way I work. Like I said, if we go position by position, or player by player, I lost every battle in that situation. I’m not going to score more points than other point guards in this league. I’m a different kind of player. It’s not fun when you want to win for the Knicks and people want you out of the Knicks.”
- The Knicks may cut the playing time of rookie point guard Jerian Grant because his lack of playing experience is hurting him and the team, according to interim coach Kurt Rambis, Marc Berman of The New York Post relays.
- Courtney Lee says being dealt to the Hornets “threw him off” because he was told the previous day by the Grizzlies he wasn’t being shopped, Steve Reed of The Associated Press writes. The swingman did add that the presence of coach Steve Clifford, who was an assistant in Orlando during Lee’s rookie season, would help him adjust more quickly, Reed adds. “It helps a lot,” Lee said of Clifford. “I have a feel for him and his coaching style. He knows my capabilities and I think he’s comfortable with me in that sense. It’s just a matter of picking up the plays.”
- The Pistons did extremely well in the trade that landed them Tobias Harris, David Mayo of MLive.com opines. Detroit netted a still-improving combo forward who provides exactly what the team lacked in its frontcourt and Harris’ salary will likely look like a bargain in the coming season, Mayo adds.
Latest On Dwight Howard
1:57pm: Howard will stay with the Rockets, ending weeks of speculation of him getting traded, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
11:07am: There is a strong belief from Howard’s camp that he will not be traded before today’s deadline, according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports.
7:44am: The Rockets and agent Dan Fegan are hard at work to find a new team for Dwight Howard, reports Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). Houston is prioritizing its pursuit of a Howard trade over serious talks with the Jazz on a Ty Lawson/Trey Burke swap, though no favorite to acquire Howard has emerged, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Most executives from teams aside from the Rockets were saying as of Wednesday that a deal involving Howard was unlikely, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
Houston turned down an offer of Al Jefferson and Spencer Hawes from the Hornets, league sources tell Isola, and little chance exists of those teams doing a Howard deal unless Houston’s demands come down markedly, as Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer hears (Twitter links). The Rockets called the Cavs to offer Howard, but Cleveland didn’t bite, according to Sam Amico of Amico Hoops (on Twitter).
The Celtics, Heat, Hawks and Raptors have also reportedly spoken with the Rockets about Howard, at least on a cursory level, though Houston has apparently been underwhelmed with the proposals it’s hearing. One GM told TNT’s David Aldridge he doesn’t think the Rockets want to end up with Howard still on the roster after the 2pm Central time deadline (Twitter link), which suggests Houston will bring its asking price in line with the market.
Salary concerns complicate any Howard trade. He’s making more than $22.359MM this season, but a 15% trade kicker in Howard’s contract means teams would have to match salaries based on a $22,970,500 figure for him. The Rockets are also less than $1MM shy of a hard cap of $88.74MM, so they have sharply limited flexibility. The Rockets and others expect Howard to turn down his more than $23.282MM player option and hit free agency this summer.