Cavs Sign Jack Cooley, Waive Chris Johnson
11:10am: The Cavs made it official and have announced that Cooley has been signed and Johnson has been waived.
9:15am: The Cavaliers have reached a deal with unrestricted free agent power forward Jack Cooley, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reports (Twitter link). The details of the agreement are not yet known, but Cleveland is over the luxury tax line and limited to offering just the league minimum. The Cavs currently have 20 players on their roster, and Cleveland will waive Chris Johnson to clear room to ink Cooley, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group tweets.
Cooley, 24, was in training camp with the Jazz on a non-guaranteed deal, but Utah waived him on Tuesday. The forward made 16 regular season appearances last season for the Jazz, averaging 1.7 points and 1.6 rebounds in 5.4 minutes of action per night. While Cooley provides additional frontcourt depth, Cleveland could be bringing him in as insurance in the event Tristan Thompson‘s holdout is a prolonged one, though that is merely my speculation.
Johnson, 30, went undrafted out of LSU back in 2009, and is not to be confused with swingman Chris Johnson out of Dayton. The Johnson whom the Cavs are cutting last appeared on an NBA regular season roster back in 2012/13, when he made 30 appearances for Minnesota. His career NBA averages are 2.9 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks to accompany a slash line of .562/.000/.699. He spent the 2014/15 campaign playing in China.
Cavs Notes: Roster, Christmas, Cunningham
The Cavaliers are planning to have only 14 players on opening night instead of the maximum 15, reports Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It would take an overwhelming performance from one of the players on the roster bubble to convince the team to carry a 15th man, Haynes hears. Jared Cunningham has a non-guaranteed deal, but he’s the team’s leading scorer in the preseason and “by far” the favorite to join 13 other players with full guarantees, according to Haynes. Cavs coach David Blatt said late Thursday that the team’s 14th spot would likely go to a guard because of point guard Kyrie Irving‘s injury, as Chris Fedor of the Northeast Ohio Media Group relays (Twitter link), and Cunningham plays shooting guard.
See more on the Cavaliers below:
- The contract that Dionte Christmas, another shooting guard, signed with the Cavs last week is non-guaranteed for two years at the minimum salary, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links).
- The Cavs will likely release a few of their camp invitees after their preseason schedule ends Monday and briefly add replacements for practice purposes, Haynes adds in the same piece. Those replacements would only be on the roster for a few days, since they’ll have to be off the books by October 26th, the day the roster limit shrinks from 20 to 15. In any case, Cleveland intends to keep the roster at 20 players as long as possible, team sources tell Haynes.
- Blatt wasn’t familiar with Cunningham’s game prior to this year’s training camp, but the coach is certainly a fan of the shooting guard’s game now, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. “Honestly, coming in I did not have direct experience with Jared,” Blatt said. “I hadn’t really seen him play in the league. I didn’t see him play in college. I know his history and looked into what he had done in the NBA and in the D-League. But this is the first time I’ve had a chance to work directly with him and see him on the floor, and he’d done nothing but acquit himself well in every way. He’s playing good basketball. He’s playing two-way basketball, and he’s making a serious run to try and make this team. He’s doing a good job.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Cavs Lead With 16 Free Agent Signings
The Cavaliers have drawn plenty of attention the past few months for a free agent they haven’t signed, but even though Tristan Thompson lingers in free agency, Cleveland has taken care of more free agent business than any other team in the league during the 2015 offseason. They signed 16 free agents, three more than the Spurs, the team that recorded the next most free agent signings. The Cavs just made their latest signing this weekend, replacing Michael Dunigan with Dionte Christmas on the camp roster.
It might be easy to presume a direct correlation between free agent activity and success, given the teams at the very top and bottom of the list below. The Cavs and Spurs are strong bets to win their respective conferences this season, while the Jazz, Timberwolves and Sixers are nowhere near the title picture. The presence of the Warriors and Thunder on the bottom half of the list and the Kings and Nets close to the top debunk that theory, however. It has more to do with the fact that the Cavs had only four players signed for 2015/16 when they ended last season, while the Jazz had 13. Cleveland simply had more jobs to hand out.
Still, other factors are at play, since free agent signings don’t encompass draft picks, draft-and-stash signings, trades or waiver claims. The Trail Blazers made significant changes to their roster, but they did much of their work via trade instead of free agency. The Rockets had 10 players under contract on July 1st, but they still wound up making 11 free agent signings.
Here’s a look at the number of free agent signings for each team. Click the team’s name to see the names of each of their signees via our 2015 Free Agent Tracker.
- Cavaliers, 16
- Mavericks, 13
- Spurs, 13
- Kings, 12
- Knicks, 12
- Nets, 12
- Pelicans, 12
- Rockets, 11
- Clippers, 10
- Grizzlies, 10
- Suns, 10
- Heat, 9
- Pacers, 9
- Raptors, 9
- Bulls, 8
- Hawks, 8
- Magic, 8
- Wizards, 8
- Bucks, 7
- Celtics, 7
- Hornets, 7
- Lakers, 7
- Nuggets, 7
- Warriors, 7
- Pistons, 6
- Thunder, 6
- Trail Blazers, 6
- 76ers, 5
- Timberwolves, 5
- Jazz, 4
Eastern Notes: Knicks, Cavs, Raptors
Carmelo Anthony used to despise Sasha Vujacic back when both played in the Western Conference, but now that the combo guard is a member of the Knicks, Anthony sees it from a different perspective, Al Iannazzone of Newsday writes. The Knicks signed Vujacic to a guaranteed deal during the summer.
“We got into it a couple of times,” Anthony said. “He was one of them little dirty players, sneaky, grab your jersey, foul you after the play. He was speaking in his language and now I understand what he was saying to me — it makes me hate him even more back then. Having him on my team is a big plus, knowing how feisty he is. He’s a vet. He knows how to play the game. He knows the system. I think having him is a big plus.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Joe Harris is a lock to make the Cavs‘ regular season roster, reports Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Harris’ salary for this upcoming season is guaranteed at $845,059, as Haynes points out.
- The development of Otto Porter, who projects to be the Wizards‘ starting small forward, especially defensively for Washington this season, will be vital for the Wizards’ success, J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic writes.
- Anthony Bennett is playing with a sense of urgency and is impressing on defense for the Raptors, Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun writes. Toronto signed Bennett to just a one-year deal for the minimum salary after he was waived by the Wolves.
Cavs Sign Dionte Christmas, Waive Dunigan
SATURDAY, 11:30am: The signing is official, the team announced.
THURSDAY, 10:24pm: The Cavaliers are close to signing shooting guard Dionte Christmas, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports reports (Twitter link). The deal is contingent on Christmas passing his physical, which will be administered on Friday, Spears adds. In order to clear a roster spot, the Cavs will release center Michael Dunigan, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). Cleveland currently has a roster count of 20 players, which is the preseason maximum.
Cleveland is limited to offering Christmas a minimum salary contract, and Spears termed the pending arrangement as a “make good deal,” which likely means that there will be no guaranteed money involved. Christmas, 29, last played in the NBA during the 2013/14 campaign when he made 31 appearances for the Suns, averaging 2.3 points and 1.2 rebounds in 6.4 minutes per contest. He spent last season with Paris-Levallois of France.
Dunigan, 26, was in training camp with the Grizzlies back in 2012, but he’s primarily played overseas since going undrafted in 2011. The Mike Naiditch client came to the U.S. to spend part of last season with Cleveland’s D-League affiliate, notching averages of 11.6 points and 7.1 rebounds in 30.4 minutes per game across 24 regular season appearances. It’s possible that the Cavs are eyeing Dunigan for a spot on the Canton Charge for 2015/16, though that is merely my speculation.
Cavs Notes: Thompson, LeBron, Love
During an appearance on Zach Lowe of Grantland’s podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst opined that the contract standoff between the Cavaliers and restricted free agent Tristan Thompson isn’t likely to end any time soon, as RealGM transcribes. “I think it will take a third party event to bridge the gap here,” said Windhorst. “I actually believe it will probably go [on for] months. This will go well into the regular season.” The ESPN scribe also compared Thompson’s current situation with Anderson Varejao‘s prolonged holdout back in 2007 that saw the center remain unsigned until December 5th of that year. Varejao’s contract impasse finally came to an end when he inked a three-year, $10MM offer sheet with Charlotte that the Cavs matched.
Here’s more out of Cleveland:
- Windhorst also told Lowe that agent Rich Paul, who represents Thompson and LeBron James, wanted to get Thompson’s deal in place prior to James re-signing with Cleveland this summer, but plans changed when Klutch Sports realized how difficult Thompson’s negotiation would be (RealGM transcription). “It was my understanding at the outset that their plan, when I say ‘their,’ I’m talking about Tristan’s representation, was to handle Tristan Thompson’s contract first and then do LeBron’s contract,” Windhorst said. “But five days into free agency, they realized Tristan’s deal was going to go very long and they had a choice to make. LeBron could either exercise influence or not. And whether it was Rich Paul’s decision or LeBron’s decision, they elected not to do that. LeBron signed his contract.“
- Kevin Love has put his difficult 2014/15 campaign behind him and is excited about the Cavs’ chances this season, and he is ready to assume a larger role in the team’s offense, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com writes. “It’s just, I think, face everything head-on,” Love said when asked about his outlook for this season. “Relationships with all the guys out there on the court, facing adversity with these guys, or staying on a high with these guys, no matter where the season takes you, it’s just I think facing it head-on and trying to be in a collision course for great things. I think if we all put our heads together, we all continue to work and get healthy, I know I sound like a broken record, but I think we can do something special.“
- Familiarity with the city of Cleveland played a major factor in Mo Williams‘ decision to re-sign with the Cavs this offseason, Joe Gabriele of NBA.com relays. “That was huge,” Williams told Gabriele. “It wasn’t that long ago [since I was here]. It feels like a while, but it really wasn’t. So, there’s some familiarity here – the same people, a couple familiar faces with teammates, but mostly everyone is new. The front office is pretty much intact, but in a little different capacity. It was definitely a comfort level and an excitement. And the thing about it is, I really enjoyed every single person in the front office. Griff [GM David Griffin] was here before I left. So, with all those things being said, it was an easy decision for me. Watching these guys fall short last year and me – being, you know, kind of a ‘Cav-at-heart’ – I felt sorry, I felt bad for the city. So that was definitely what made my mind up. When Golden State won that final game, my mind was made up – I was coming back. It was just how much money Griff was gonna give me.“
Central Rumors: George, Jackson, Cavs
Paul George has voiced some displeasure with the Pacers’ plan to move him to power forward, though he says he’s willing to stick with it, Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star reports. George felt overmatched trying to guard Pelicans superstar Anthony Davis in the team’s first preseason game but after meeting with coach Frank Vogel and president of basketball operations Larry Bird, George said on Monday afternoon that he would remain in that role, Buckner continues. “We’re going to still stick with it, see how it works,” he told Buckner. That fact that George lobbied to scrap the team’s entire offseason plan after one game is “lunacy,” Indianapolis Star columnist Gregg Doyel opines. But Vogel told Doyel that he’s not worried about George’s reluctance to play there. “Well, he’s going to buy in, so I’m not really sure how to answer that,” Vogel said. “We’re going to work together to figure out the best combination of all these things.”
In other news around the Central Division:
- Reggie Jackson can produce John Wall-type numbers because he has a top-notch pick-and-roll partner in Andre Drummond and plays in a system suited to his skills, according to Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM.com. Wall complained when the Pistons gave Jackson a five-year, $80MM contract this summer but Jackson doesn’t have to be as talented as Wall to put up gaudy statistics because the Pistons will surround him and Drummond with shooters, Tjarks continues. In contrast, Wall often plays with Nene Hilario and Marcin Gortat up front, which gives Wall less room to drive than Jackson will enjoy in Detroit, Tjarks points out. Even when the Wizards go small, they don’t have a roll man with Drummond’s talent, Tjarks adds, which means Jackson can live up to the contract just by the nature of Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy’s offensive system.
- Cavaliers center Sasha Kaun has no plans to play in Europe again, according to Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Kaun joined the Cavs this summer as a backup to Timofey Mozgov on a two-year, $2.5MM deal after his contact with CSKA Moscow expired. “When I said I was done in Europe, I was definitely done in Europe,” Kaun told Lloyd. “Seven years was long enough. My wife [a Kansas native] made an amazing sacrifice in moving over there.” Kaun wanted to join the Cavs three years ago, Lloyd adds, but they only offered him the league mininum.
Central Notes: Monroe, Butler, Osman, Johnson
Bucks GM John Hammond believes the team’s plan for a new arena, which has since cleared all hurdles for public funding, played a role in convincing Greg Monroe to sign with the team, as Hammond told NBA TV’s Dennis Scott and TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Monroe cites advice from former Bucks who became his teammates on the Pistons.
“When I signed, it wasn’t all the way done yet, but now, they have a new stadium coming,” Monroe said. “And I saw how the fans were. We played there, been coming there for years now, multiple times a year in the division. I know what kind of fan base they have. And I talked to a couple of my former teammates in Detroit who played here before, and they had nothing but great things to say about the city and the organization. So with all of that combined, I just definitely felt I made the right decision.”
See more from the Central Division:
- Jimmy Butler thinks new Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg will improve the team’s floor-spacing, an element Butler thought was “terrible” last season, but Butler, in an interview with Aldridge for the same piece, identifies Hoiberg’s personal touch as the most significant change from former coach Tom Thibodeau.
- The Cavs spoke with No. 31 overall pick Cedi Osman about a month ago, but he’s planning to remain overseas with Anadolu Efes, where he has a contract that runs through at least 2017/18, for the next two seasons, as Osman writes for Eurohoops.net. “I’m happy that my rights are owned by the Cleveland Cavaliers and I hope that when I go there, I’ll meet LeBron James!” Osman writes. “I have a lot to learn from him!”
- Stanley Johnson was a surprise pick at No. 8 with Justise Winslow still on the board and he struggled in the Pistons‘ open scrimmage Saturday, apart from a highlight-reel play, but he’s otherwise made a strong impression with the team so far, observes Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.
And-Ones: Cavs, Celtics, Nuggets
With plenty of health concerns regarding the team, it is imperative that the Cavs and Tristan Thompson strike a deal as soon as possible, especially after LeBron James called the situation a distraction, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group opines. Kevin Love isn’t cleared for full contact, Timofey Mozgov is around 60% and Anderson Varejao is still working his way into shape from an Achilles tear while Thompson appears to be in very good shape, Haynes writes.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Marcus Smart appeared in 67 games last season with 38 starts, but he is well aware that there is a competition for the Celtics‘ starting point guard job, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com relays. In addition to Smart, the Celtics are also giving serious thought to having Isaiah Thomas in the starting unit, Blakely adds.
- With the Nuggets in search of a long-term solution at shooting guard, second-year player Gary Harris seems primed to receive more playing time, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post relays. “It’s a huge season,” Harris said. “I don’t think it because other people are saying it. I just think it’s going to be a huge season for myself personally, just for me.”
- With the addition of Tyson Chandler, the Suns‘ defense has the potential to represent one of the team’s greatest improvements, along with perimeter shooting, from the offseason as Phoenix tries to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2010, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic writes.
Central Notes: Thompson, Bucks, Bulls
LeBron James urged that the Cavs and Tristan Thompson need to bend in order to work out a deal as soon as possible because the situation is becoming a distraction and told reporters, including Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (Twitter links), that his Instagram post last night was meant to illustrate that thought.
“The last thing you need is a distraction when you’re trying to make a championship run and we have that,” James told reporters.
Thompson let the deadline pass without signing his qualifying offer earlier this week, which reduces his options to signing a long-term deal with the Cavs, signing an offer sheet from another team or continuing to sit out.
Here’s more from around the Central Division:
- Cavs coach David Blatt admitted that he needed to learn a lot last year in his first season in the league, but he seems much more comfortable and confident than he was at this point last year, Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal details. “I feel more at home,” Blatt told Lloyd. “It wasn’t easy what I had to go through last year from the standpoint of a whole new environment and whole new way of doing things.”
- The Bucks have a few options at point guard heading into this season so it will be interesting to see who emerges during the preseason and what Jason Kidd‘s lineup will look like, Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes. The Bucks, who already had Michael Carter-Williams and Jerryd Bayless, acquired Greivis Vasquez in a trade with Toronto.
- Players on the Bulls respect their former coach, Tom Thibodeau, but are, at least so far, seemingly happier with new coach Fred Hoiberg‘s player-friendly style, Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com writes after speaking with several veterans.