Chicago Bulls Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Bulls Sign D.J. Augustin

December 13th, 2013 at 9:58am CST by Charlie Adams

FRIDAY: The Bulls have officially signed Augustin, according to a press release from the team. I’d guess it will be a non-guaranteed pact, but terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.

WEDNESDAY: The Bulls and D.J. Augustin have a reached a deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. We had heard earlier that Chicago was the clear favorite to sign the recently waived Augustin, and Wojnarowski reports that the two sides have reached an agreement, pending a Thursday morning physical.

The Raptors waived Augustin in order to make room on an overcrowded roster that came about as a result of the seven-player blockbuster that sent Rudy Gay to the Kings. The Bulls were seeking some much-needed depth in their backcourt after losing Derrick Rose to a season-ending injury. Augustin has played limited minutes this year; he’s averaging 8.2 MPG in 10 contests. Still, the four-year veteran will help supplement an ailing cast of guards in Chicago.

Central Notes: Neal, Teague, Cavs

December 12th, 2013 at 5:37pm CST by Ryan Raroque

This past offseason, the Spurs extended then-restricted free agent Gary Neal a qualifying offer worth about $1.1MM, which was significantly below the two-year, $7.5MM agreement he eventually reached with the Bucks. According to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio-Express News, Neal believes he got a fair shake from Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford and understood that he wouldn’t be retained if he wanted more than what San Antonio was initially offering:

“I figured after three years, the Spurs benefitted me, and I benefitted the Spurs…But it’s a business. I kind of knew after Game 7 in the Finals, unless I signed a qualifying offer, I wouldn’t be back…I have no complaints…If (they didn’t give me the opportunity), they could have found another guy one of those summers to shoot 40 percent from three,..I thank Coach Pop a thousand times for that.”

Here’s more out of the Central Division:

The rest of the league is confused why the Bulls aren’t willing to give Marquis Teague more playing time, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. Chicago reportedly dangled Teague in trade talks during the preseason.
The Cavaliers have recalled Carrick Felix, Sergey Karasev, and Henry Sims from the D-League, as per the team’s official website.
Pistons forward Gigi Datome is determined to play for the Italian national team next summer, whether it’d be during the FIBA World Cup or the Eurobasket Qualifying Round, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (hat tip to Tuttosport).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Atlantic Rumors: Thibodeau, Rivers, Iguodala

December 12th, 2013 at 8:58am CST by Chuck Myron

The idea that Tom Thibodeau could become the next coach of the Knicks is centered around the notion that friction between Thibodeau and Bulls management would prompt a parting of ways, but such tension has cooled, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Thibodeau, GM Gar Forman and executive vice president John Paxson cleared the air during several meetings early in the offseason, and while they may not be the best of friends, the relationship is “more than just workable,” Cowley writes. Thibodeau had no comment on the Knicks rumor, and with New York beating Chicago last night, it seems Mike Woodson‘s job is safe for at least another day. Here’s the latest on the Knicks’ rivals in the Atlantic Division:

Amid a return to Boston as coach of the Clippers, Doc Rivers said taking the Celtics job in 2004 was “the best decision I ever made,” HoopsWorld’s Jessica Camerato notes.
Andre Iguodala was shocked when the Sixers traded him to the Nuggets as part of last year’s four-team Dwight Howard blockbuster, and tells Grantland’s Jonathan Abrams that he wishes the deal hadn’t come while he was competing in the Olympics. Iguodala also shares his frustrations about playing in front of Philly’s notoriously critical fans and says the constant changes to the Sixers during his tenure with the team hurt his game.
Nerlens Noel might be done for the season, but he and the Sixers are working diligently on improving his shot, as Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer details.
Nets GM Billy King admits that he was involved in the decision to demote former lead assistant Lawrence Frank, notes Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.
Kyle Korver told HoopsHype’s Jorge Sierra that his ties to King, who as Sixers GM 10 years ago swung a deal to acquire him on draft night, were part of the reason he nearly signed with the Nets this summer. Ultimately, Korver says he and his wife decided to stay in Atlanta.

Eastern Notes: Woodson, Van Gundy, Rondo

December 11th, 2013 at 9:25pm CST by Charlie Adams

The Knicks’ poor play means that Mike Woodson might still be in danger of losing his job, but Marc Berman of the New York Post reports that Woodson doesn’t believe he has to prove himself to anyone: “I’m not trying to convince anyone…I’m trying to take our team as it is and do the best job we can do.” Berman notes that since owner James Dolan gave Woodson his vote of confidence early this season, the Knicks have gone 2-9. Here’s more from New York and the Eastern Conference:

Jeff Van Gundy says there isn’t any merit to the rumors claiming he might replace Woodson as coach for the Knicks, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com reveals. “It’s annoying because it’s not true,” said Van Gundy. “I don’t think for one minute Mike Woodson is in any trouble nor should he be because he has proven himself to be an outstanding coach.“
Rajon Rondo spoke out and said he hasn’t been in contact with Carmelo Anthony about potentially signing with the Knicks down the road, reports Royce Young of CBSsports.com: “I haven’t spoken to him. He ain’t contacted me. It’s just rumors.“
It’s no secret the Pacers are seeking to earn the highest seed in the East year, and besting the Heat last night in Indiana proves they’re capable of challenging Miami for the top spot. Wheat Hotchkiss at NBA.com examines how important offseason acquisitions C.J. Watson and Luis Scola have been to Indiana’s success this year.
John Salmons is happy to be in Toronto, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. It’s been seven years since Salmons turned down a five-year, $23MM deal to play for the Raptors in order to ink a similar deal with the Kings.
An Insider piece by Bradford Doolittle of ESPN examines the key decisions that the Bulls’ front office will face in the near future, including the decision of whether or not to amnesty Carlos Boozer. Opting to retain the veteran forward will probably delay European superstar Nikola Mirotic’s arrival in Chicago, notes Doolittle.

Odds & Ends: Collins, Augustin, Mavs, Cavs

December 11th, 2013 at 5:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Jannero Pargo‘s contract with the Bobcats became fully guaranteed when the team didn’t waive him yesterday, and A.J. Price passed his contract guarantee threshold with the Timberwolves this weekend. That means the rest of the players with non-guaranteed contracts won’t have their deals fully guaranteed unless they remain on their teams until the leaguewide guarantee date of January 10th. We’ll continue to track non-guaranteed contracts here until that date. Here’s more from around the league:

Free agent center Jason Collins told Michael K. Lavers of the Washington Blade that he doesn’t pin the reluctance of NBA teams to sign him on his sexual orientation. Collins, who hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since publicly revealing last spring that he is homosexual, says he hopes a team will sign him by March 1st.
The Bulls are zeroing in on D.J. Augustin, and the move would give them four point guards, not including the injured Derrick Rose. They probably won’t be carrying all four by the end of the season, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
With Devin Harris suffering a setback in his rehab, Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News wonders if the Mavericks will go after Augustin.
The Cavs have assigned Carrick Felix, Sergey Karasev and Henry Sims to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. It’s the first assignment for Karasev, while Felix and Sims are making return trips to the Canton Charge.
Other teams reportedly expect the Nuggets will soon trade Jordan Hamilton for little in return, but the third-year small forward has earned the trust of coach Brian Shaw, according to Aaron J. Lopez of Nuggets.com.
Shelvin Mack is making the most of his non-guaranteed contract with the Hawks, as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution examines (subscription required).

Bulls In Lead To Sign D.J. Augustin

December 11th, 2013 at 4:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 4:20pm: Augustin has cleared waivers, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

TUESDAY, 11:49am: The Bulls are the clear leaders to sign D.J. Augustin when he clears waivers Wednesday, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Augustin was a victim of a numbers crunch in Toronto, where the Raptors had to release a player to fit under the 15-man roster limit to accommodate yesterday’s Rudy Gay trade.

Augustin is on a one-year contract worth a guaranteed $1.267MM, not much more than what the minimum salary for the five-year veteran would be, so it’s conceivable a team could claim him off waivers. The capped-out Bulls can’t make a claim, so they’d likely sign him to a non-guaranteed pact for the minimum-salary if he hits free agency. Perhaps another club could resort to a waiver claim to thwart Chicago’s attempt to sign him, though that’s just my speculation.

Derrick Rose‘s injury has left the Bulls shorthanded at point guard, where the backups to Kirk Hinrich are disappointing second-year man Marquis Teague, whom the Bulls shopped in trade talks before the season, and 38-year-old journeyman Mike James. James hasn’t played in more than a week as he recovers from a sprained knee, and with two roster spots available, the team is looking to bolster its depth at the position, Wojnarowski writes. Augustin has had his own struggles the past two seasons, flaming out as a backup for the Pacers in 2012/13 before averaging just 8.2 minutes per game in 10 appearances for the Raptors this year.

The Raptors would benefit if a team claimed Augustin off waivers, since they’ll otherwise be on the hook for the contract they signed with the Thad Foucher client. They could still see some relief if he becomes a free agent and signs with the Bulls or another team, since that might allow Toronto to defray the cost of its contract with Augustin via set-off rights.

Knicks May Make Run At Tom Thibodeau

December 11th, 2013 at 4:05pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks might attempt to pry Tom Thibodeau out of his contract from the Bulls, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who gets the sense that current Knicks head coach Mike Woodson will only last until owner James Dolan can find a splashy replacement. Soon-to-be free agent Carmelo Anthony wouldn’t object to the move, Stein also hears. Thibodeau, like Anthony, is a client of the Creative Artists Agency, a firm with close ties to the Knicks.

Thibodeau has two seasons remaining on his deal with Chicago, but he’s reportedly feuding with Bulls GM Gar Forman. It would nonetheless be hard to convince the Bulls to let him go, Stein writes, but the ESPN scribe figures the Knicks stand a better chance of pulling that off than they do of landing marquee names like John Calipari, Phil Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Stan Van Gundy.

The Knicks are also apparently considering assistant GM Allan Houston as a possible replacement for Woodson. Houston played for the Knicks when Thibodeau was an assistant coach for the team. Perhaps Houston could serve as an interim if the Knicks decide to replace Woodson during the season, with a pursuit of Thibodeau happening in the summer, but that’s just my speculation.

Coaching transactions between teams are rare, but the Knicks once received compensation for letting Pat Riley go to the Heat, and this summer’s Doc Rivers swap is the most recent example. The Celtics acquired a 2015 first-round pick in exchange for letting Rivers out of his deal so the Clippers could hire him, but the earliest first-rounder the Knicks can surrender is their 2018 pick. The NBA prohibits teams from exchanging players for coaches, so it would indeed be difficult for the Knicks to bring Thibodeau back to Madison Square Garden.

Odds & Ends: Rivers, Amnesty, Guards, Draft

December 10th, 2013 at 7:34pm CST by Alex Lee

A day before he returns to Boston as the head coach of the Clippers, Doc Rivers conceded on Boston radio that he essentially walked out on a Celtics team destined for a rebuild, writes Matt Moore of CBS Sports. It must be a strange couple days for the remaining Celtics, who play in Brooklyn tonight against Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce before returning home to host their former head coach and his new team on Wednesday night.

Doc’s emotional return should dominate the NBA headlines tomorrow. Let’s take a look at some odds and ends from around the league tonight:

Of the 10 eligible names left, only Carlos Boozer and Kendrick Perkins remain as realistic candidates for the amnesty clause after the Kings jettisoned John Salmons in the Rudy Gay trade, writes ESPN’s Marc Stein, who adds that even the Bulls and Thunder are “conflicted” as to whether or not they’d use the clause on Boozer or Perkins.
Mark Deeks of ShamSports, writing for the Score, details guards that are currently unsigned or have flexible contracts who could be in-season additions to NBA teams.
In an Insiders-only piece, ESPN’s Chad Ford and Jay Bilas discuss a number of hot-button issues surrounding the much-hyped 2014 NBA Draft, including the No. 1 selection, sleepers, Kansas’ Joel Embiid and the freshman class of Kentucky.
Speaking of Embiid, ESPN’s Jeff Goodman evaluates the recent play of the raw-but-talented freshman in another Insiders-only story. According to Goodman — and Ford and Bilas, for that matter — Embiid may be considered for the No. 1 overall selection in June.

Cavs Owner Wants To Keep Dion Waiters

December 9th, 2013 at 10:27am CST by Chuck Myron

Dion Waiters has emerged as a trade candidate within the past couple of weeks, as a report late last month suggested the Cavs were shopping last year’s No. 4 overall pick while the team insisted it was merely fielding calls for him. Still, there appears to be little motivation at the highest level of the organization to trade Waiters. Owner Dan Gilbert is fond of the shooting guard and wants to keep him, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com.

Broussard also notes that the relationship between Waiters and backcourt mate Kyrie Irving is improving. The ESPN scribe reported last month that rumors of a fight between Irving and Waiters were false, though Waiters and Tristan Thompson apparently engaged in a heated argument during a recent team meeting.

The Bulls, Knicks and Sixers have been among the teams rumored to be in the mix for Waiters, who turns 22 on Tuesday. Rival executives have expressed disbelief that the Cavs would give up on Waiters so soon, though the majority of Hoops Rumors readers who voted believe Cleveland should trade him away.

Odds & Ends: Bulls, Hayward, Sanders

December 6th, 2013 at 6:52pm CST by Jonathan Nehring

With league action on the court beginning for the evening, some action around the league occurring off the court.

Sam Smith of Bulls.com doesn’t think the Bulls will apply for the Disabled Player Exception worth 50% of Derrick Rose‘s salary. With the Bulls already in luxury tax territory, adding a player under this exception would still cost Chicago double what they pay that player and no available player is worth that money to the Bulls.
With the departure of Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap this past offseason, the Jazz have turned to Gordon Hayward as their “go-to-guy”. The Jazz use Hayward 25% of the time he is on the court and have increased his playing time by 10.5 MPG more this season than his career average of 26.4 MPG. Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today discusses whether this increase in playing time could hurt the Jazz since they were unable to reach a contract extension before this season allowing Hayward to become a restricted free agent next season.
Following a breakout season last year, Larry Sanders earned himself a contract extension with the Bucks this offseason. Wondering if that contract extension will pay off, Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times asked (via Twitter) an NBA exec the trade value of Sanders, who has only played three games this season due to thumb surgery. Combining the surgery with his new contract, the exec speculates few, if any, teams would want him at the moment.