Potential 2014 Amnesty Candidates
2013's amnesty period came to an end last night at 11:00pm CST, leaving just seven teams and 11 players still in play for the amnesty clause. The Bobcats, Lakers, Heat, Bucks, and Raptors all used the amnesty provision this year, making 20 teams in total that have taken advantage of it in the last three years.
While that leaves 10 teams who haven't amnestied a player yet, three of those clubs will no longer have any players eligible. The Pelicans entered this offseason with no amnesty-eligible players under contract, and the Pistons (Charlie Villanueva, Greg Monroe) and Jazz (Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward) both elected to keep their remaining amnesty-eligible players, all of whom are on expiring contracts.
That leaves the following list of teams that could still release a player via amnesty next July:
- Atlanta Hawks: Al Horford
- Boston Celtics: Rajon Rondo
- Chicago Bulls: Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer
- Memphis Grizzlies: Zach Randolph, Mike Conley
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Kevin Durant, Kendrick Perkins, Nick Collison
- Sacramento Kings: John Salmons
- San Antonio Spurs: Tony Parker
It's safe to assume that, barring a catastrophic, career-threatening injury, Horford, Rondo, and Parker are safe, meaning the Hawks, Celtics, and Spurs are unlikely to use the amnesty provision. That leaves just four teams in play. Here's a look at the candidates on those clubs:
Chicago Bulls:
Even though Noah will still have two years left on his contract entering next offseason, he's still young and productive enough that it's hard to imagine him becoming a realistic amnesty candidate before his deal expires. The same can't be said for Boozer. After being discussed as a potential victim last summer, he didn't inspire too many rumors this time around, but there's still a consensus that he could be in danger next July.
With Luol Deng's contract set to expire, the Bulls could clear a big chunk of cap space by letting Deng expire and amnestying Boozer. The veteran power forward is coming off a decent season, but he's not the same player he once was, and clearing his $16.8MM cap hit for 2014/15 could have significant cap and tax benefits.
Memphis Grizzlies:
Randolph and Conley both continue to be essential pieces of the Grizzlies' core, so I think it's extremely unlikely that either player becomes an amnesty candidate. Still, it's worth noting that Randolph is on the books for $16.5MM in 2014/15, and Conley will still have two years left on his contract heading into next summer. We've seen situations change quickly before, so I don't want to entirely shut the door on either possibility, but it's a long shot that Memphis uses its amnesty provision.
Oklahoma City Thunder:
Durant isn't going anywhere, and I doubt the Thunder will be so hard up for flexibility next summer that they'll need to clear Collison's modest $2.24MM cap hit from the books. But Perkins has been and continues to be a very viable amnesty candidate. OKC decided this year that Perkins still provides enough value on the court that it's not worth paying him to play for another team, but when his salary increases to $9.65MM in 2014, the club may change its stance.
Sacramento Kings:
On the surface, Salmons looks like one of the strongest amnesty candidates remaining, but after this season, most of his remaining salary is non-guaranteed — the Kings are only on the hook for $1MM of his $7MM total. That means that Sacramento could choose between saving $6MM in cap space by buying out Salmons for $1MM, or saving $7MM in cap space by paying him his full salary. It's pretty hard to imagine many scenarios in which clearing that extra $1MM in cap room is worth paying Salmons an extra $6MM, so it looks like the Kings won't use their amnesty clause.
Overall, while it remains possible that players like Boozer or Perkins could be released in 2014, it looks like most of the teams that are going to use the amnesty provision during this CBA have already done so.
Contract Details: Bulls, Cavs, Mavs, Nuggets
In addition to new contracts being finalized and signed, there are a few more cap details worth keeping an eye on throughout July. We won't be updating our traded player exceptions list to reflect all the latest deals until the dust has settled a little and each move has been officially completed, but as our list shows, the Bulls had their $5MM Kyle Korver TPE expire overnight.
There are also a number of 2013/14 salaries becoming guaranteed this month, including Kyle Lowry and Lance Stephenson earlier this week. Mavericks second-year big man Bernard James also appears to be guaranteed for the coming year, since he wasn't waived by July 15th, per Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com.
Here are a few more of the latest contract and cap details worth noting, courtesy of Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld:
- Mike Dunleavy's two-year deal with the Bulls is worth the team's full mini mid-level exception, for a total of about $6.51MM. Meanwhile, Chicago second-round pick Erik Murphy gets a two-year, minimum-salary that's not fully guaranteed for either season.
- The Bulls also used the stretch provision on Richard Hamilton, allowing the team to spread his guaranteed $1MM over the next three seasons (Twitter link).
- The Cavaliers signed Jarrett Jack for a flat $6.3MM per season, while Earl Clark received a flat $4.25MM per year (Twitter links).
- Jose Calderon's starting salary with the Mavericks is $6,791,570 (Twitter link). With annual 4.5% raises, that works out to exactly $29MM over four years. Additionally, Gal Mekel's three-year contract with the team is for the minimum and is fully guaranteed.
- J.J. Hickson gets the full mid-level for three years from the Nuggets, which works out to about $16.15MM overall.
- Two players who were involved in the same sign-and-trade transaction have had their numbers confirmed. Randy Foye receives $3MM from the Nuggets in each of his first two seasons before a $3.135MM 2015/16 salary, which isn't fully guaranteed. Andre Iguodala, meanwhile, signed with the Warriors for exactly $48MM over four years, but his salaries will decrease from $12.87MM this season to $11.13MM in the fourth season (Twitter link).
- For the record, that gap between Iguodala's and Foye's first-year salaries should represent the value of the trade exception created by Denver: $9,868,632. I wonder if Iguodala's salary starts so high in part to help the Nuggets create a larger TPE.
Spears On Sixers, Camby, Bobcats, Jordan
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports relayed a string of news items for us on Tuesday night, which range from the Sixers never-ending coaching search to the Bobcats front office. Let's take a look at the latest from Spears:
- The Sixers have received permission to interview Miami assistant David Fizdale for their coaching vacancy, Spears writes. We know the team has interest in Ed Pinckney, Adrian Griffin and Melvin Hunt, as well as in-house candidate Michael Curry and C's assistant Jay Larranaga, but this is the first mention of Fizdale and Philly in more than a month.
- The Raptors are expected to buy out the final two years on the contract of Marcus Camby, who came over to Toronto in the Andrea Bargnani deal, tweets Spears, who lists the Clippers, Bulls and Rockets as teams with interest in the veteran center. Camby is still owed about $7.5MM through the 2014/15 season.
- The Bobcats have promoted Larry Jordan, the older brother of owner Michael Jordan, to team director of player personnel, Spears writes. Larry's previous job title was team director of special projects, and he now takes over a job that has been vacant for three years, according to Spears. He will report to his brother, as well as team president Rod Higgins and GM Rich Cho.
Bulls GM Talks Deng, Roster, CBA, Mirotic
While in Las Vegas for Summer League action, Bulls GM Gar Forman spoke to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times about his team, and the shape he expects the roster to take moving forward. Here are a few of the more notable quotes from Forman's conversation with the Sun-Times scribe:
On Luol Deng's future with the Bulls:
"Well, we love Luol. We see Luol as a valuable member of this team moving forward, so the window is open to talk about an extension. We’ve had some conversations. Whether something gets done, I don’t know. But whether it’s this summer or next summer, those are conversations we’ll continue to have."
On the Bulls' roster for the coming season:
"I mean our goal has been to bring this group back, and I know [Deng’s] name was floated out there [in trade rumors], but we didn’t initiate calls. We’ve gotten calls on some of our guys, but our goal has been to bring this group back healthy."
On how the Collective Bargaining Agreement has limited the Bulls' options:
"We put this team together and then the new CBA came out. The new CBA is very restrictive in your ability to improve your basketball team because it’s taken away a lot of the avenues there are to continue to build your team. So I’ve talked about it as almost a stock market correction…. We like our team, we have a good group of guys, but we haven’t had flexibility. Next summer will be the first chance we have to have some level of flexibility in order to add to the team."
On the possibility of bringing over 2011 first-rounder Nikola Mirotic a year from now:
"We knew he wouldn’t be able to come under the rookie scale slot that he was drafted, so we knew it would be at least three years. And it could be longer, but we’re hopeful at that point there will be an opportunity to bring him over."
Central Notes: Bucks, Jennings, Pistons, Bulls
Brandon Jennings remains under team control for the Bucks, but the standout guard reportedly doesn't want to return to Milwaukee. Jennings has had an up-and-down relationship with the Bucks over the years and it would appear that he's not so high on the club as it stands. The 23-year-old is also said to be seeking a deal with a $12MM average annual value, but if he really wants to escape Milwaukee, he just might sign the $4.53MM qualifying offer so that he can be an unrestricted free agent next summer. Here's more on Jennings and other items out of the Central Division..
- The Pistons and Bucks haven't had any conversation about a sign-and-trade involving Jennings, according to Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter).
- Lionel Hollins said that he thought he was bound for the Bucks before the club decided to tap former Hawks head man Larry Drew, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times.
- Marquis Teague thinks Bulls Summer League teammate Andrew Goudelock deserves a a job on an NBA roster this season, but it remains to be seen if a GM will agree, writes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
Eastern Notes: Knicks, Cavs, World Peace
A source tells Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com that the Knicks have expressed interest in Samuel Dalembert. Knicks GM Glen Grunwald was chatting with Dalembert’s agent from Pinnacle Management Corporation, at Summer League yesterday (Twitter link).
Frank Isola of the New York Daily News believes Isiah Thomas is the best chance the Knicks have to snag Metta World Peace, if he clears waivers, with the remaining $1.7MM from their mini mid-level exception.
Metta recently spoke with Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com. They discussed Metta’s working with LeBron James and Kevin Durant as a player development coach, what competition means to him, and why he’s such a big fan of LeBron (all Sulia links)
Here's some more from around the Eastern Conference…
- Jim Baubach of Newsday on why the undrafted C.J. Leslie might be a keeper for the Knicks.
- The Cavs should return to relevance much faster than the NBA standard writes the Akron Beacon Journal’s Jason Lloyd
- Bud Shaw of the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Andrew Bynum and the friction he’s already experienced while on the Lakers with new Cavs head coach Mike Brown.
- Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer with a roundup of what he learned about some of the Sixers’ new additions during Orlando Summer League action.
- Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets that Larry Sanders was cheering on his Bucks teammates at Las Vegas’ Summer League from the bench.
- A noticeably slimmed down Carlos Boozer was watching his younger brother Charles Boozer play for the Bulls Summer League team in Las Vegas today reports K.C Johnson at the Chicago Tribune.
Central Links: Bulls, Cavs, McMillan
The Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson spent some time with Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau today, and the coach provided him some insights into the the team's offseason plans–including the signing of the Bucks' Mike Dunleavy.
Of Dunleavy, Thibs said that he complements Derrick Rose and Carlos Boozer "extremely well," and "he moves well with the ball. We think he's a great fit" (Twitter link). Speaking of Rose, whom Thibodeau gushed about last month, the Bulls coach continued to praise his star's progress to Johnson via Twitter. According to Thibs, the summer has given Rose even more time to build his confidence and his leg strength, finally adding "He looks great."
Johnson's conversation with Thibodeau failed to touch on the relationship between Bulls general manager Gar Forman (Twitter link) and former assistant Ron Adams, who the Celtics may be looking to add to their bench.
Here's what else is happening around the Central division tonight…
- Racine Journal Times columnist Gery Woelfel relays the same Thibodeau thoughts on Dunleavy and adds, via Twitter, that the Bulls got a strong endorsement for Dunleavy from his former college coach, Mike Krzyzewski.
- The Cavs appeared to have an excess of front court players after drafting Anthony Bennett with the number one pick and signing Andrew Bynum. That's the roster question the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mary Schmitt Boyer answers in her Saturday night mailbag.
- Cavs GM Chris Grant says he's been high on free agent signee Jarrett Jack ever since the guard came out of college. That's when Grant, then a member of the Hawks’ front office, was part of an unsuccessful effort to trade up to select Jack. Bob Finnan of the News-Herald provides details via Sulia.
- Jodie Valade of the Cleveland Plain Dealer opines that the Cavs’ recent draft picks and free agent signings allow them more flexibility and options.
- Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star suggests the Pacers’ biggest off-season move may have been hiring Nate McMillan as an assistant coach.
Bulls Re-Sign Nazr Mohammed To One-Year Deal
JULY 11TH: The Bulls have officially confirmed their deal with Mohammed, announcing the move in a press release.
JULY 2ND: The Bulls and Nazr Mohammed have reached a verbal agreement on a one-year deal that will bring Mohammed back to Chicago, according to Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com (via Twitter). Sam reports that the new contract for the Excel Sports client is worth the veteran's minimum, which will be $1,399,507.
After signing the same one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Bulls last summer, Mohammed appeared in 63 games for the club, averaging 2.6 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 11.0 minutes per contest. Of all the Bulls' free agents this summer, Mohammed always appeared to be the most likely to return to Chicago for another season.
Now that they have an agreement in place with Mohammed, the Bulls have filled two spots on their bench through free agency. The team also agreed to terms on a two-year contract with Mike Dunleavy yesterday.
Odds & Ends: Johnson, Blair, Mavs, Deng, Jazz
Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars introduced free agent signee Josh Smith to the media today, but Dumars says he isn't done upgrading the roster, as Rod Beard of the Detroit News observes. The team also brought Rasheed Wallace aboard as an assistant coach this week, providing a link to its championship past. Here's more from the rest of the league as teams and players covet the Larry O'Brien trophy:
- Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution hears Ivan Johnson is drawing interest from several teams, including the Hawks (Twitter link). Atlanta declined to offer Johnson a qualifying offer this summer, but the team can still re-sign him as an unrestricted free agent. Johnson let go of agent Larry Williams last week.
- The Mavs have "poked around" free agent DeJuan Blair, as Jeff Caplan of NBA.com tweets, so it appears the club may have some level of interest. The team is focusing on its frontcourt, and GM Donnie Nelson doesn't think the Mavs will be bringing on any more guards, as Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes at the end of his roundup.
- Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com thinks the Mavs should have been more willing to take a risk on Andrew Bynum.
- An NBA GM from outside the Bulls organization tells Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com that Luol Deng could command between $11MM and $12MM on the open market next summer. Deng and the Bulls appear to be working toward an extension (Twitter link).
- The Jazz may have had "different conversations with Mo Williams" if the team hadn't wound up with Trey Burke on draft night, GM Dennis Lindsey told reporters today, including Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link).
- Royce White, who's headed to the Sixers via trade, intends to play for the team, but is still reluctant to make frequent flights, as he tells Randy Peterson of the Des Moines Register (link via USA Today).
Bulls Release Richard Hamilton
JULY 10TH: The Bulls have waived Hamilton, tweets Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald.
JULY 2ND: With Richard Hamilton's full salary for 2013/14 set to become guaranteed if he's not waived on or before July 10th, the Bulls will indeed release him before that happens, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. By cutting Hamilton, the Bulls will save $4MM, as only $1MM of his $5MM salary is guaranteed.
The move comes as no surprise, as the Bulls have shopped Hamilton multiple times in the past in the hopes of shedding his contract. With Chicago projected to be in luxury-tax territory next season, getting out from under $4MM of Hamilton's salary will actually save the Bulls significantly more than that in tax payments.
Mike Dunleavy figures to get not only some of the money the Bulls will save by cutting Hamilton, but also many of the minutes that the veteran guard would have played. Dunleavy agreed to a two-year contract likely worth the mini mid-level exception with the Bulls yesterday.
As Berger tweets, if he can be had for a reduced salary, Hamilton still represents a decent option for a contending team. Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link) expects the Knicks to at least kick the tires on the veteran shooting guard, who shares an agent (Leon Rose) with Carmelo Anthony.