Cavs Sign Chris Crawford, Shane Edwards
SUNDAY, 11:00am: The signings are official, the team announced.
SATURDAY, 6:22pm: The Cavs are set to sign Chris Crawford and Shane Edwards for training camp, reports Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Lloyd also confirms an earlier report that team will ink Stephen Holt. It’s a non-guaranteed one-year deal for Crawford, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. Crawford had a partial guarantee of $20K on his original two-year deal that Cleveland waived on Thursday amid the team’s acquisition of Keith Bogans, one that threatened to push the team into tax territory. With Bogans off to Philadelphia, it appears Cleveland is circling back to the undrafted guard from the University of Memphis. The team is limited to giving out only the minimum salary to any of its signees, but it’s unclear if there are any guarantees involved for Edwards and Holt.
Crawford, who’ll turn 22 next week, was with the Rockets in summer league after experiencing a dip in scoring in his senior year this season. He put up 10.4 points per game as a junior but just 8.7 PPG as a senior, despite seeing more minutes in his last year with Memphis. Edwards, 27, was briefly with the Cavs last season on a 10-day contract, and he made it into two games for about 12 minutes total. He spent most of last season with Cleveland’s D-League team, averaging 14.2 points and 5.4 rebounds in 28.9 minutes per game.
The Cavs had been carrying 15 players, so the additions of Holt, Crawford and Edwards will put them over the regular season roster limit. Each will face an uphill battle to make it to opening night, though Cleveland only has guaranteed money on the books with 13 players, not including the partial guarantee in Crawford’s old contract.
Cavs Notes: LeBron, Irving, Deng, Crawford
LeBron James reiterated his intentions to stay in Cleveland beyond his current contract during an interview that ran Friday on CNN’s “Unguarded with Rachel Nichols. “I plan on finishing my career back home,” James said, as Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group transcribes.
James called the two-year length of his contract a “business decision.” There’s more on the four-time MVP amid the latest on his new team:
- James based 95% of his decision to return to Cleveland on his desire to return to his Northeast Ohio roots, but the chance to play with Kyrie Irving was “a huge part” of the other 5%, James said to reporters, including Michael Lee of The Washington Post (Twitter link).
- James and Luol Deng traded places this summer, but Deng knows the Cavs got the better end of the de facto swap, as he told reporters, including Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald. “I’ve been in the league 11 years and I’m still improving,” Deng said. “I would never try to replace anybody no matter if they’re better than me or I’m better than somebody. We all bring different things. The biggest mistake I would make is try to be LeBron. I’m not LeBron.”
- The Cavs intended to re-sign Chris Crawford even as they waived him Thursday, according to Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer. That suggests the Cavs also intended from the time they traded for Bogans that they would flip him to the Sixers or another club, and indeed, a league source told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal that Cleveland was never keen on keeping the veteran guard.
- Cleveland’s brass had wanted to use Kevin Murphy, John Lucas III and Malcolm Thomas to create a trade exception ever since acquiring the trio, even though it took two moves for the Cavs to come up with the $5,285,817 trade exception they extracted from today’s Bogans trade, as Lloyd writes in the same piece.
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Cavs Trade Keith Bogans To Sixers
2:07pm: The trade is official, the Cavs announced. The terms of the deal are that the Cavs send Bogans and their 2018 second round pick to the Sixers for Philly’s 2015 second-rounder (protected for picks 31-50 and 56-60), though Cleveland won’t see the pick if the Sixers have to give it to the Celtics to satisfy an existing debt from previous trades. Cleveland also announced the creation of a traded player exception worth approximately $5.3MM. It’ll be precisely $5,285,817, equivalent to the value of Bogans’ salary.
1:52pm: The second-rounder headed to Philadelphia is Cleveland’s 2018 pick, Lloyd writes. There is no mention of any protections being attached, though the second round pick headed the Cavs most likely will have heavy enough protections that Cleveland is unlikely to ever make that pick.
1:11pm: The Cavs will receive a future second-rounder from the Sixers with protections attached, Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal reports (Twitter link).
12:50pm: The Cavaliers have reached an agreement to trade newly acquired Keith Bogans to the Sixers, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports. The deal will send Bogans along with a future second-rounder to Philly and create a $5.3MM trade exception for the Cavs in the process. It’s unclear what Cleveland will receive in return, and it may just be the exception that they essentially net from this deal.
Cavs GM David Griffin had said yesterday that acquiring Bogans was about “contract flexibility,” and it didn’t take long for him to cash in the chip that Bogans’ non-guaranteed deal provided him. On Thursday Cleveland had traded the non-guaranteed contracts of Erik Murphy, John Lucas III and Malcolm Thomas, along with Cavs’ 2016 and 2017 second round picks, for Bogans and the Kings’ 2015 and 2017 second-rounders, both of which are top-55 protected.
Assuming the Cavs don’t have to take back a player from the Sixers in order to close the deal, this will leave Cleveland with 15 players on their roster, with 11 carrying full guarantees, and two with partials. Ray Allen is still a possibility to end up with the Cavaliers, though he has numerous other opportunities for work, and hasn’t stated whether or not he intends to play this coming season yet.
As for the Sixers, they get a veteran shooting guard who is capable of starting for them, along with more draft picks, something Philly places high value on. Since Bogans is on a non-guaranteed deal there is little to no risk at giving him a shot at a rotation spot this season. He shouldn’t complicate the Sixers’ quest to nab the top pick in next year’s draft. This move will max out Philadelphia’s roster count at 20.
Cavs Notes: Bogans, Irving, Waiters
The trade for Keith Bogans and his non-guaranteed contract has opened up some possibilities for the Cavs next Summer, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders opines. By stockpiling all the non-guaranteed deals that they have, Cleveland could trade for a star-level player and the team trading away the star wouldn’t have to take back any guaranteed contracts, which is important for sign-and-trade scenarios. This gives the Cavs an excellent opportunity to add to their core of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love, notes Kennedy.
Here’s more from Cleveland:
- All of the Cavs’ offseason moves were felt by Irving, who went from being the team’s most notable player to more of a complementary piece despite signing a max contract extension in July, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com writes. “I was in the locker room and looking around, and somehow I’ve become the youngest on the team again,” Irving said. “It’s a weird feeling, but I’m truly appreciative of what management did this summer and all the pieces they added because it’s just going to make my job that much easier.”
- During the Cavs’ media day, Dion Waiters expressed his desire to be used at point guard and to help facilitate the offense, Chris Fedor of the Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. Waiters said, “I’d love to play point guard. I would love the opportunity if coach gave me a shot at that, I would love to take on the full commitment to that because I think I could play the one also.”
- When asked about the status of extension talks with the Cavaliers, Tristan Thompson told George Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal, “Right now, I’m not focused on that. My whole goal is getting training camp started and that’s where my head’s at right now. How can I help this team take the next step and how I can help this team and be an asset to this team.”
Cavs Notes: Bogans, LeBron, Marion
The Cavaliers held their media day today, and there was more buzz around the team than in any recent year. LeBron James is back in town, joining holdovers Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, and Tristan Thompson, and the recently acquired Kevin Love. The front office has also surrounded LeBron with a slew of veteran reserves in their efforts to bring a championship to the city of Cleveland, and to convince both James and Love to stick around the Cuyahoga River area. Here’s some notes from the day’s events:
- The acquisition of Keith Bogans was about “contract flexibility,” Cavs GM David Griffin said today, tweets Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer. That suggests that the team values him more as a trade asset than as a player, though that’s just my speculation.
- When asked if Cleveland would have been a free agency option for him if LeBron wasn’t part of the package, Shawn Marion said, “No. I’m going to be honest. No,” tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
- Marion also said that James wasn’t enough to sell him on the Cavs, Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com relays (Twitter link). It was the trade for Love that tipped the scales for Marion, according to Shelburne.
- When discussing luring free agents to Cleveland, Griffin said, “You couldn’t have a better recruiter than LeBron James,” Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal relays (Twitter link).
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Cavs Sign A.J. Price To Camp Deal
FRIDAY, 8:35am: The deal is official, the team acknowledged, including Price on its training camp roster.
MONDAY, 9:52am: The Cavs have agreed to a training camp deal with A.J. Price, as Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer writes at the bottom of his weekend column. It’s not clear if there’s any guaranteed money involved or if the contract will cover more than one season, but it’s almost certainly for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Cavs can give.
Price made the Wolves out of camp last season on a non-guaranteed deal, though the team waived him in April, long after his minimum salary had become guaranteed for the season and about a month after he underwent an appendectomy. The point guard didn’t play following the surgery, and he saw just 99 minutes all season across 28 appearances for Minnesota. Price, who turns 28 next month, was a part of the rotation in his previous stops with the Pacers and Wizards after Indiana made him the 52nd overall pick in 2009.
The Excel Sports Management client likely rounds out the Cavs preseason roster, since the team had been carrying deals with 19 other players. Price is likely competing for one of two spots up in the air for the opening night roster, since Cleveland has 12 fully guaranteed pacts, while Anderson Varejao is one of the Cavs on a partially guaranteed contract.
Cavs Sign Lou Amundson For Camp
SEPTEMBER 26TH: The deal is official, the team acknowledged, including Amundson on its training camp roster.
SEPTEMBER 19TH: Big man Louis Amundson will be in training camp with the Cavs, agent Mark Bartelstein has confirmed to HoopsHype (via Twitter). The Mark Bartelstein client worked out for Cleveland earlier this week.
Amundson, 31, was released from his non-guaranteed deal with the Bulls in July. The veteran has bounced around quite a bit, having played for five teams in the last four seasons after a successful run in Phoenix’s rotation. He’s been exclusively on minimum-salary contracts the past two seasons and if he sticks with LeBron James & Co. it’ll be for that same figure.
The Cavs have been looking for rim protection of late, and Amundson, who has posted 2.0 blocks per 36 minutes over the course of his career, fits the bill. Cleveland already has deals with 18 players, but only 12 of them have fully guaranteed pacts. Anderson Varejao, who’s set to play a prominent role in the team’s frontcourt rotation as usual, is one of four Cavs with partially guaranteed deals.
And-Ones: Pistons, LeBron, Contract Details
The Pistons have a new direction as a franchise now that Stan Van Gundy has taken over as team president and head coach. In their season preview the crew at Basketball Insiders don’t see the team becoming contenders just yet, and their predictions have Detroit finishing either third or fourth in the Central Division.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Nuggets signees Joe Alexander and Marcus Williams, new Lakers Keith Appling, Jabari Brown, Roscoe Smith and Jeremy Tyler, Heat additions Andre Dawkins and Shawn Jones, Wizards wing men Xavier Silas and Damion James, and Hasheem Thabeet of the Pistons are all on non-guaranteed one-year contracts for the minimum salary, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders details (All four Twitter links here).
- LeBron James might be gone from Miami, but he takes with him a number of lessons the Heat organization taught him about professionalism, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com writes. James is a much different person than when he was with the Cavs the first time, notes Windhorst, and the additions of Shawn Marion, Mike Miller, and James Jones are indications that Cleveland wants to bump up the work ethic and preparation habits of their younger players.
- When asked about departed free agent Trevor Ariza, who left the Wizards to sign with the Rockets this summer, Marcin Gortat believed Ariza’s decision wasn’t about finances, tweets Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. Gortat said, “In my opinion I think he was trying to get back to the West. I don’t think it was about the money.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Cavs Acquire Keith Bogans
8:25pm: The trade is official, the Celtics announced via a press release.
8:20pm: More details about the trade are rolling in, with Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link) noting that the Celtics sent the Cavs the rights to the Kings’ 2015 and 2017 second-rounders, both of which are top-55 protected. Marc Stein of ESPN.com also adds Dwight Powell to the list of players heading to Boston.
8:00pm: The second-rounders going to the Celtics will be Cleveland’s 2016 and 2017 selections, notes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link).
7:41pm: The Celtics will also get a $5.3MM trade exception as part of the deal, notes Goodman (twitter link).
7:20pm: The Cavs will waive guard Chris Crawford once the deal is official, tweets Chris Haynes of The Plain Dealer.
7:16pm: The Celtics are also receiving two second round draft picks as part of the deal, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).
6:52pm: The Cavaliers and Celtics are in discussions on a trade that would send Keith Bogans to Cleveland, Marc Stein of ESPN.com is reporting. The Cavs are expected to package the non-guaranteed contracts of Erik Murphy, John Lucas III and Malcolm Thomas in return for Bogans, notes Stein.
The acquisition of the 34 year-old shooting guard out of Kentucky would suggest that Cleveland has either received word from free agent Ray Allen that he isn’t interested in signing with the team, or that he intends to retire, though that’s just speculation on my part. Whatever the case is, it would seem that Bogans is taking the role that the Cavs were intending Allen to fill.
Bogans has played 11 seasons in the league after being selected in the second round of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Bucks. His career numbers are 6.3 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.3 APG. Bogans’ career slash line is .394/.353/.716. He has two years remaining on his contract, both non-guaranteed, and he is scheduled to make $5,285,816 this coming season.
As for the Celtics, they currently have 21 players on their roster, including Evan Turner, whose signing has not been officially announced yet. So it’s highly likely that Boston will waive all three players once the deal is completed.
Cavs Waive Chris Crawford
The Cavaliers have waived Chris Crawford, according to the RealGM transactions log. Chris Haynes of The Plain Dealer was the first to report that Cleveland intended to waive the player (Twitter link). Crawford’s two year deal he signed just under two weeks ago included a guarantee of $20K for this season, but his 2015/16 salary was non-guaranteed.
This move comes on the heels of the Cavs acquiring Keith Bogans from the Celtics, which made Crawford expendable at the shooting guard position. The Cavs will have 16 players remaining on their roster after parting with Dwight Powell, John Lucas III, Erik Murphy, and Malcolm Thomas.
The 6’4″, 22 year-old Crawford went undrafted out of Memphis, where he put up career averages of 8.7 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 3.3 APG. His career slash line was .391/.367/.753.