Cleveland Cavaliers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: J.R. Smith, Carmelo, Hawks

August 3rd, 2015 at 3:43pm CST by Chuck Myron

Eastern Conference teams have lured more veterans than Western Conference teams so far in free agency and trades this offseason, as I examined late last month, but the East didn’t really make a dent in terms of star power. The chasm between the conferences seemingly remains wide, and with the Western Conference elite further strengthening, it seems the easiest path to the Finals will again run through the East, though the defending conference champion Cavs might dispute that. Check out a Cleveland-related item amid the latest from the Eastern Conference:

J.R. Smith said he wants to “be somewhere I can make a difference” as he discussed his free agency with reporters in Guam, where he held a camp with close friend and recent Heat signee Gerald Green, notes Grant Wieman of the Pacific Daily News (hat tip to Chris Fedor of the Northeast Ohio Media Group). Smith said two weeks ago that he’d like to re-sign with the Cavaliers. “I would love to be a starter, but it depends on the situation and what team I’m on,” Smith said. “Cleveland is in a situation where they don’t really need me to start. I can come off the bench and bring the energy and stuff like that.”
Knicks broadcaster and team employee Walt “Clyde” Frazier wonders in an interview with Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com whether Carmelo Anthony will ask for a trade if the team doesn’t make noticeable progress this year. It wouldn’t be surprising if Anthony did just that, given lingering questions about whether team president Phil Jackson, coach Derek Fisher and the triangle can succeed and the challenge of attracting marquee free agents to a losing team, as Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal speculates (All Twitter links).
The deals that Lamar Patterson and Terran Petteway signed with the Hawks are both two-year, minimum-salary arrangments with $75K partial guarantees for this season, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).

Cavaliers Rumors: Varejao, Dellavedova, Jones

August 2nd, 2015 at 12:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

In two years, the Cavaliers’ Anderson Varejao could be a trading chip similar to Brendan Haywood, according to Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer. The frequently injured Varejao received a contract extension last summer partially for that purpose, Pluto reports. His salaries of $9.6MM for next season and $9.3MM for 2016/17 are fully guaranteed, but the $10MM he is scheduled to receive in 2017/18 is not guaranteed, making him an attractive pickup for a team looking to shed salary. Haywood, who had a non-guaranteed salary of $10,522,500 next season was dealt to the Blazers along with Mike Miller for trade exceptions worth $10.5MM and $2.85MM and was subsequently waived by Portland.

There’s more news out of Cleveland:

With the trade exceptions in hand, Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report identifies five players who could be useful pickups between now and February’s trading deadline. They are the Pistons’ Danny Granger, the Nets’ newly signed Andrea Bargnani, the Wolves’ Kevin Martin, the Magic’s Channing Frye and the Lakers’ Nick Young.
The one-year deal between the Cavs and Matthew Dellavedova is equivalent in value to his qualifying offer, but it also includes a 15% trade kicker that he’d receive if he waived his de facto no-trade clause, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders shows (Twitter link).
James Jones is indeed making the minimum on his one-year deal with the Cavs, according to Pincus.

Central Notes: Rose, Noah, Mozgov

August 1st, 2015 at 5:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Derrick Rose remains undecided about attending Team USA’s minicamp this month, Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com reports. Sources told Friedell that Rose is considering taking more time off before Bulls training camp in late September. If Rose skips the minicamp, he may cost himself any chance of a roster spot since USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo has said that players who wish to be considered for the 12-man roster that will represent the United States at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro must attend the minicamp, Friedell adds. Rose was set to play in the 2012 Olympics before injuring his left knee during the NBA playoffs that year.

In other news around the Central Division:

Joakim Noah said his health issues last season were “very humbling” and he’s eager to “prove I can help this team win big,” K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune tweets. New Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg recently visited Noah at a training facility in California and Noah “enjoyed vibing with him,” Johnson added in a separate tweet.
Timofey Mozgov has no incentive to sign an extension with the Cavaliers since the salary cap will rise dramatically next season, according to Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Mozgov will be an unrestricted free agent after making $4.95MM during the upcoming season and he could be worth at least $15MM a year if he has another strong season, Pluto adds.
Unrestricted Cavs free agent J.R. Smith has value on the right type of team with a one-year contract, Pluto opined in the same story. The Cavs suggested that Smith take a one-year, $6.4MM option for the upcoming season but he declined, Pluto adds.

Mavs Sign Salah Mejri

July 30th, 2015 at 4:14pm CST by Zachary Links

4:14pm: It’s a partially guaranteed three-year deal, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com, so the Mavs are using cap space.

3:51pm: The Mavericks announced that they have signed center Salah Mejri. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the press release, though Marc Stein of ESPN.com recently reported that the Mavs made a three-year offer to the big man.

Mejri played in 34 games with Real Madrid last season and averaged 4.3 points and 2.1 rebounds in 8.6 minutes on the way to helping his team win the Spanish League title. In championship play, he increased those averages to 5.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 10.3 minutes across eight games. While Mejri didn’t play much last year, Dallas is intrigued by his energy, mobility, and length, as David Pick of Eurobasket.com noted recently (Twitter link).

A native of Tunisia, Mejri was a member of the Tunisian National Team that competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The team secured its bid to the London Olympics by winning the 2011 FIBA African Championships where Mejri was named MVP.

Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi first reported the interest from Dallas. The Cavs were reportedly interested earlier this year.

Wolves’ Flip Saunders On Love, Garnett, Bennett

July 30th, 2015 at 1:19pm CST by Zachary Links

Before the D-League, there was the Continental Basketball Association. Like the D-League, the CBA gave a platform to some of the less-heralded players out there to show their stuff and earn NBA deals. In the case of Flip Saunders, the CBA was a springboard to a successful NBA coaching career. This week, the head coach/president of basketball operations/part owner of the Timberwolves spoke with Zach Lowe of Grantland about Kevin Love, Kevin Garnett, his journey, and much more. Here’s a look at some of the highlights..

On Kevin Love:

I didn’t have a problem keeping Kevin into the final year of his deal and coaching him. Guys just don’t turn down the extra year and $30MM. Even though he maybe wanted to leave, I thought we still had an opportunity to re-sign him. When you are patient, you can say, ‘This is what we need to get something done, and if we don’t get it, we’re keeping him.’

Then things kind of fell into place, with LeBron going to Cleveland and [Andrew] Wiggins becoming available…People thought it was [bluster when I said I wanted to keep him]. Thoughts might have changed when I announced I would coach. Because what coach wouldn’t want to coach a guy who was All-NBA? Coaches want to win that night. I’m in a unique situation, because as the coach, I live in the present, but as the GM, I look into the future. I try to steer both courses. But people believed I would coach the guy.

On balancing roles and whether he watches college game film to scout draft prospects:

I do watch a lot, actually. You also have to trust people you hire. I’ve been in the league for 18 years. I have an understanding of players. I have a wide base of college coaches I talk to, so I know a lot about guys before they even come into the league. Look, there are positives and negatives to it. You need checks and balances. You can’t make snap decisions. What helps is, I came up in the CBA, where you did everything. I was president, GM, coach, everything, for seven years there. You get to understand the intermingling of the business and basketball sides, because they both have to be successful. You learn how to deal with agents. Building trust with agents is as important as anything in our league now.

On Kevin Garnett‘s role:

He’s gonna start. That’s who he is. KG is a starter. He’s the best power forward on our team, actually. No one rebounds better. He’s the best help defender. No one communicates better. He knows the offense, and he can pass it.

On whether he’ll exercise Anthony Bennett‘s fourth-year option:

We’re going to evaluate him over the summer. He played a good Pan American Games. There is no question about his talent. It’s about getting in shape. He’s in shape now. But it’s going to be competitive with all those guys, and also Nemanja Bjelica, who no one talks about.

Central Rumors: Cavs, Jackson, Pacers

July 27th, 2015 at 8:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Cavaliers traded Brendan Haywood and Mike Miller to the Trail Blazers mainly to add two exceptions and expand their trade options, even though they will save millions in luxury tax, Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Cleveland believes teams are more willing to make mid-season trades and the exceptions it picked up on Monday — $10.5MM for Haywood and $2.85MM for Miller — gives it some flexibility to make those moves, Pluto continues. The Cavs’ salary cap concerns would have made any trade next season much more difficult without those exceptions, though they cannot be combined, Pluto adds.

In other news around the Central Division:

Second-round pick Sir’Dominic Pointer is a longshot to end up on the Cavs roster this year, as Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal writes in his story on the Haywood deal. Cleveland drafted the small forward from St. John’s 53rd overall last month.
Reggie Jackson was convinced he would re-sign with the Pistons when they helped him with a family crisis, Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press writes. When Jackson found out his father Saul had a diabetic seizure in March, the organization flew Jackson on the team plane to Colorado to visit him, the story continues. That made a lasting impression on Jackson, who didn’t consider any other teams before signing a five-year, $80MM deal as a restricted free agent to remain with the club. “I think I knew then I didn’t need to be nowhere else,” Jackson said to Ellis. “In my mind I was already here, but that kind of solidified it. There was no need to even play around and do free agency. I was good.”
Only the first year of Glenn Robinson III‘s three-year contract with the Pacers is guaranteed, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Robinson will make $1.1MM this season, then $1.05MM in 2016/17 and $1.09MM in 2017/18 in the non-guaranteed years, Pincus adds. The signing was officially announced on Monday.

Pacers Sign Rakeem Christmas

July 27th, 2015 at 2:06pm CST by Eddie Scarito

2:06pm: The signing is official, the team announced.

1:01pm: The Pacers haven’t formally announced the deal yet, but their official team Twitter account passed along a tweet from Christmas that depicts him signing his contract.

MONDAY, 9:32am: The final two seasons are partially guaranteed, sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM, who hears the deal is for $4.3MM, slightly less than the $4.5MM originally reported (Twitter link)

THURSDAY, 6:14pm: The Pacers and rookie Rakeem Christmas have reached an agreement on a contract, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group reports (on Twitter). The pact is for four-years and $4.5MM, with the first two seasons fully guaranteed, Haynes adds. Christmas was the No. 36 overall selection in this year’s NBA Draft.

Christmas’ draft rights had been acquired from the Cavaliers earlier today in exchange for the 2019 second round pick that Indiana garnered from the Lakers in the Roy Hibbert trade. Cleveland reportedly made the deal for Christmas in order to acquire a draft pick that it could use to help flip Brendan Haywood‘s uniquely valuable non-guaranteed contract.

The 23-year-old averaged 7.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks to go with a slash line of .560/.000/.681 during his four years spent at Syracuse. Christmas logged 17.5 PPG and 9.1 RPG during his senior season.

Cavs Re-Sign Matthew Dellavedova

July 27th, 2015 at 1:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:35pm: The signing is official, the team announced.

12:13pm: It is indeed the qualifying offer that Dellavedova will sign, McMenamin writes in a full story, which puts his reporting in agreement with that of Mannix.

10:56am: The Cavaliers will re-sign Matthew Dellavedova to a one-year deal worth about $1.2MM, reports Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Chris Mannix of SI.com indicates that the Bill Duffy client is taking his qualifying offer (Twitter link), which is worth $1,147,276. Either way, it’ll likely cost the Cavs nearly four times as much in luxury tax penalties. The restricted free agent nonetheless appears to be taking a sharp discount from the $4MM he was reportedly seeking.

Dellavedova, who went undrafted in 2013, quickly established himself as an NBA player and further proved his worth in this year’s playoffs, and especially in the Finals, when he served as a fill-in for the injured Kyrie Irving. GM David Griffin made it clear he wanted him back, but Cleveland’s tax concerns appeared to slow negotiations. Dellavedova wanted to move on a deal at this point in part because of a desire to have his future settled before he starts playing for the Australian national team this summer, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link). The Cavs can make him a restricted free agent again next summer, since he’ll only have three years of service.

The deal puts a further squeeze on J.R. Smith, who remains unsigned, though Dellavedova’s willingness to sacrifice ostensibly leaves more flexibility for the team to pay Smith what he would like to make, depending on just how much tax owner Dan Gilbert wants to shell out. The Cavs sliced their projected luxury tax bill to little more than $4MM when they agreed to trade Mike Miller along with Brendan Haywood to the Trail Blazers, but that doesn’t include what they’d have to pay for Dellavedova’s salary, nor does it take into consideration a new deal for Tristan Thompson, who remains a restricted free agent.

Is this a fair deal for Dellavedova, or should he have held out for more? Leave a comment to tell us what you think.

Blazers Acquire Brendan Haywood, Mike Miller

July 27th, 2015 at 12:55pm CST by Will Joseph

MONDAY, 12:55pm: The deal is official, the Cavs and Blazers announce. Miller receives $428,241 from Cleveland thanks to his 15% trade kicker, though that amount will apply to Portland’s cap, lifting Miller’s total cap hit to $3,283,181, notes former Nets executive Bobby Marks (Twitter link).

8:49pm: The Cavs will not receive draft picks in the deal, Wojnarowski tweets. The Blazers, however, will send cash, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

SUNDAY, 8:19pm: The Cavs have agreed to trade Brendan Haywood and Mike Miller to the Blazers, reports Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski (on Twitter). Cleveland is set to gain two trade exceptions in the deal — one for $10.5MM and another for $2.85MM — Wojnarowski tweets.

Mar 10, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers center Brendan Haywood shoots prior to the game against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The Cavs are also set to send the better of the 2019 second-round picks that they own from the Lakers and Timberwolves plus their 2020 second-round pick, according to ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst (on Twitter).

Haywood’s contract is non-guaranteed for next season at $10,522,500. It will become guaranteed on August 1st and therefore the Blazers are expected to waive him, Windhorst writes in a full story. The Cavs, of course, had been shopping Haywood and his sizable contract for months to no avail.

The Cavs are still interested in making deals with Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova, but at the moment, are set to cut their luxury tax bill from a little more than $32MM to just over $4MM by shedding the salaries of Haywood and Miller, ESPN.com’s Marc Stein tweets.

Eastern Notes: Irving, Anthony, Embiid, Raptors

July 26th, 2015 at 2:58pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Cavaliers‘ Kyrie Irving is being cautious about his return to basketball after fracturing his left kneecap in the NBA Finals, writes Chris Fedor of The Northeast Ohio Media Group. Irving had surgery the day after suffering the injury in Game 1, and the team estimated his recovery time at three to four months. That should have him ready for the start of training camp in late September, but the star guard isn’t focused on that timetable. “I’m honestly not putting a date on anything,” Irving said. “People are going to put a date regardless. I’m just continuing to be on the journey I’ve been on and that’s continuing to get better every single day and rehabbing my leg.” Irving said he expects the Cavaliers to be even better next season after adding veterans Mo Williams and Richard Jefferson through free agency.

There’s more from the Eastern Conference:

The Knicks have given their approval for Carmelo Anthony to attend a USA Basketball minicamp next month in Las Vegas, according to Mitch Abramson of the New York Daily News. It’s the latest indication that Anthony will be healthy in time for training camp after February’s surgery on a torn patellar tendon in his left knee. The August 11th-13th event will bring together players who have participated in the USA Basketball system. Non-contact workouts are planned with an informal all-star game capping off the proceedings. Anthony, who is still recuperating from the surgery, is not expected to participate in all the events.
If Joel Embiid had slipped to the sixth pick in the 2014 NBA draft, there is a good chance the Celtics would have taken him, reports Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. “[The Celtics] did have the go-ahead from their medical staff to make that pick,” said an unidentified source. “They weren’t going to say no to him.” The Sixers recently announced that Embiid will undergo another surgery on his right foot and probably miss a second consecutive season.
Doug Smith of the Toronto Star compares the Raptors‘ philosophy under GM Masai Ujiri to the team’s under former GM Brian Colangelo in the writer’s latest mailbag. Smith believe the main difference is that the current regime tends have more patience with the team and lets things develop longer.

Arthur Hill contributed to this post.