Cavs Sign DeSagana Diop, Michael Lee
The Cavaliers have increased their training camp roster to the maximum allowable 20 players, rounding out their list of camp invitees with DeSagana Diop and Michael Lee, the team announced today in a press release.
Several Cleveland camp invitees have been reported within the last couple days, including Elliot Williams, Jermaine Taylor, and Henry Sims. Diop and Lee will join those players and others in a competition for the final couple spots on the regular season roster.
Diop, 31, was drafted by the Cavs eighth overall back in 2001, and spent four underwhelming seasons with the team before heading to Dallas as a free agent. Diop has spent the last few years with the Bobcats, and while he never developed into more than an extra rebounder and defender off the bench, he earned $7.37MM in 2012/13.
Lee, meanwhile, played his college ball at St. Bonaventure before going undrafted in 2008. He has played internationally since then, spending time on clubs in Ukraine, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, and France.
Cavs Bringing Henry Sims To Camp
The Cavaliers have added one more player to their training camp roster, having reached an agreement with Henry Sims, according to Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon-Journal. The signing of Sims will increase Cleveland's preseason roster count to 18 players.
Sims, 23, made his NBA debut last season for New Orleans, appearing briefly in a pair of games for the then-Hornets. The 6'10" center spent most of the year with the Erie BayHawks, earning a spot in the D-League All-Star game, and finishing with averages of 16.4 and 8.7 RPG in 41 contests. We heard multiple times in August that the Cavs were considering extending a camp invite to Sims, who also drew some interest from the Knicks.
There's no guarantee Sims will earn a regular-season roster spot for the Cavs, but he should at least be given a shot. Even if we assume Andrew Bynum (partially guaranteed) and C.J. Miles (non-guaranteed) are locks for the roster, that could still leave two openings up for grabs, for the likes of Sims, Jermaine Taylor, Kenny Kadji, and Elliot Williams.
Elliot Williams To Join Cavs For Camp
Elliot Williams has accepted an invitation to join the Cavaliers for training camp, giving him another chance to fulfill the promise that made him a 2010 first-round pick, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who confirms that the deal is non-guaranteed. Williams missed all of 2012/13 for the Trail Blazers after tearing his left Achilles tendon, and he didn't play in his rookie year because of surgeries on both knees.
Portland took Williams 22nd in the 2010 draft, but he wound up only appearing in 24 games with the club, all of them in 2011/12. The shooting guard from Memphis averaged just 3.7 points in 6.2 minutes per game during his time with the Blazers, who declined the fourth-year option on his rookie deal before last season. Williams didn't take part in NBA summer league action this year.
Fellow NBA veteran Jermaine Taylor appears set to take part in Cavs camp as well, so Williams will bring Cleveland's roster to 17 players. Williams is a client of Wasserman Media Group agent Thad Foucher, as the Hoops Rumors Agency Database shows.
Cavs Invite Jermaine Taylor To Camp
The Cavaliers have extended a camp invitation to former Kings and Rockets shooting guard Jermaine Taylor, agent Michael Whitaker tells Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype (Twitter link). It's not entirely clear from the tweet whether Taylor has accepted the invitation, but since the news is coming from Taylor's camp, it seems he'll likely become the 16th player on Cleveland's roster.
The move isn't entirely a surprise, since Taylor's performance for Cleveland's summer league team drew praise from Cavs coach Mike Brown. The 6'4" Taylor averaged 12.8 points in 18.1 minutes per game for the summer Cavs. He also suited up for the Bulls' summer league team this year. Aside from that action, Taylor has been out of the NBA since 2011. He had a whirlwind 2012/13, playing for Lagun Aro Gipuzkoa BC in Spain, Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel, Shanxi Zhongyu in China and the Maine Red Claws of the D-League.
Assuming Taylor will be with the Cavs on a fully non-guaranteed contract, he'll join Kenny Kadji and C.J. Miles as the only Cavaliers without at least a partial guarantee. Eleven Cavs have fully guaranteed deals, and nearly half of Andrew Bynum's $12.25MM salary is guaranteed as well. That leaves Taylor with a decent shot at making the opening-night roster.
Central Notes: Pistons, Monroe, Deng, Cavs
With just over one week left until the NBA's preseason schedule gets underway, let's catch up on a few odds and ends from around the Central Division….
- The Pistons and GM Joe Dumars must be prepared to either give Greg Monroe a max deal or trade him, according to Dan Feldman of PistonPowered (link via Detroit Free Press). If Monroe hits restricted free agency next summer, which appears likely, another team will almost certainly offer him a max deal, so the Pistons shouldn't let it get to that point if they don't intend to match, says Feldman.
- Luol Deng told reporters today, including Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com, that he doesn't expect to be distracted by his upcoming free agency this season. "Honestly I would rather not talk about [my contract situation]," Deng said. "Everything will take care of itself." (Twitter links).
- The Cavaliers made a couple front office changes, promoting Trent Redden to assistant GM and Koby Altman to director of player personnel, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.
Central Notes: Posey, Cavs, Deng, Pistons
Let's round up a few odds and ends from around the Central Division:
- The Cavaliers' D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, has officially hired James Posey as an assistant coach on Steve Hetzel's staff, according to a press release from the Cavs. The longtime NBA swingman last played in 2010/11.
- With the Bulls deciding to put extension talks for Luol Deng on hold, agent Herb Rudoy tells David Aldridge of NBA.com that he fully intends to take his client to free agency. "He loves being there, and he loves playing for [coach Tom] Thibodeau," Rudoy said of Deng. "Loves playing for him. But he has to see what the market is."
- If the Pistons plan to make trades at this season's deadline, the team's potential excess of small forwards and guards could create some opportunities, writes Perry A. Farrell of the Detroit Free Press.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Daniel Gibson
The man affectionately known as "Boobie" seemed destined for a lengthy NBA career when he started a pair of NBA Finals games as a rookie for the Cavs in 2007. Daniel Gibson had enough staying power with the Cavs to remain with the team longer than nearly everyone else on that Finals roster, but the 27-year-old's NBA career stands at a crossroads now that he and Cleveland have finally parted ways. The Sixers are the only NBA team that's been reported to have interest in Gibson this month. The Rockets abandoned their pursuit from the summer, and while the Knicks, Pacers and Bucks were mentioned in connection with Gibson in July, they appear no closer to signing him more than two months later.
Gibson's role in the Cavs offense has declined precipitously the past two seasons, even though he didn't play too many fewer minutes per game last season than in 2010/11, when he poured in a career high 11.6 points per contest on nearly 10 shots a night. He averaged only 5.4 field goal attempts in 2012/13, eliminating his penetration game in favor of three-point shooting. He took only 29 shots all season from less than 10 feet away from the basket, according to Basketball-Reference. Alas, he shot just 34.4% from three-point range last season, the worst mark of a career in which he's made 40.7% of his treys. He wound up scoring fewer points per minutes played last season than in any of his seven NBA seasons.
Gibson has proven a valuable team defender for most of his time in the league, but last season, the Cavs gave up fewer points per 100 possessions with Gibson on the bench than they did with him in the lineup, per NBA.com. That's only been the case during one other season in his career, as Gibson generally remained attentive to the defensive end even after the Cavs replaced coach Mike Brown with the more offensively oriented Byron Scott.
Some teams may perceive last season's performance as a warning that Gibson's quickness is dissapating, even though he's still two and a half years shy of his 30th birthday. At 6'2", he's too short to guard many of the league's shooting guards, so he must display the ability to keep up with point guards. The Cavs have played him extensively at both guard positions, but he's never been the pass-first sort. Still, he showed he was capable of efficiently distributing the ball during the season after LeBron James left, averaging 3.0 assists and 1.2 turnovers per game, the only year in which he's approached a 3-to-1 ratio. If he demonstrates in workouts that he's capable of duplicating that level of efficiency, he'll significantly improve his chances of finding another NBA job.
I can't imagine there won't be another NBA team that gives him a shot, even if he isn't someone who can embrace the role of a passing point guard. Front offices probably give last season's defensive slippage more credence than his off year from behind the arc, since it would be odd for his touch to vanish long-term, even though his three-point percentage has declined in each of the last three seasons. Perhaps that has to do with where those three-point shots are coming from. In 2009/10, when he made a career-best 47.7% of his three-pointers, he clustered his attempts in the left corner. He began taking them from all around the arc under Scott, and last season he made significantly more from the right corner than he did from the left. Finding the right coach with the right system that can get Gibson to where he's most comfortable on the floor will be key.
Guys who can stick 40% of their threes are a commodity in the NBA, so Gibson and his representatives at ASM Sports shouldn't go without an offer this season. He might not receive a training camp invitation, but if he stays in shape and doesn't sign an overseas deal without an NBA out, he'll likely find himself back on an NBA roster at some point this year. He said in the spring that he'd be open to returning to the Cavs, and even though the team has no apparent interest, that doesn't rule out a reunion between Gibson and Brown, who coached him for four seasons. Hawks GM Danny Ferry, who drafted Gibson in the second round in 2006, is another who could give him a shot, though that's just my speculation.
Odds & Ends: LeBron, Mavs, Lopez, Hamilton
The Cavs made a bit of a boo boo this week when they put together their list of all-time Cavs players by number. One would think that No. 23 would be a slam dunk choice for a guy by the name of LeBron James, but the nod instead went to Tyrone Corbin, as noted by Sean Highkin of USA Today. Meanwhile, the Cavs reached out to the Plain Dealer (on Twitter) to explain that the list was not meant to reflect the best player to wear each number. Here's more from around the Association..
- The Mavs bench production was the best in the NBA last season but it could be even more formidable in 2013/14, writes Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. This summer, Dallas added Wayne Ellington, Devin Harris and DeJuan Blair to support their starting five.
- Nets center Brook Lopez, who had a screw replaced in his surgically-repaired right foot over the summer, says he's totally healthy and ready for camp, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com.
- HoopsHype runs down the best remaining free agents available. Richard Hamilton has the top spot followed by Stephen Jackson, Lamar Odom, and Sebastian Telfair.
- Commissioner-in-training Adam Silver doesn't see the value in tanking, but Joel Brigham of HoopsWorld says that it's not going away anytime soon.
Eastern Notes: George, Pacers, Deng
Hoopsworld's Yannis Koutroupis explores the possible implications from a potential contract extension for Paul George and suggests that Danny Granger has now become an expendable piece. Losing Lance Stephenson - who is coming off of a career year and may have likely played himself out of Indiana's price range next summer – would be a bitter pill to swallow, opines Koutroupis. Here's more out of the Eastern Conference:
- Granger believes that Indiana can contend for a title next season and calls the addition of Luis Scola "our biggest free agent pickup" (Scott Agness of NBA.com).
- ESPN's Chad Ford (via Twitter) notes that Luol Deng has been working out at BYU-Hawaii over the last several weeks and says that the Bulls forward appears to be in fantastic shape.
- Erildas Budraitis of RealGM catches up with CSKA Moscow's Jeremy Pargo, who last played for the 76ers and Cavaliers during the 2012/13 season. The 6'2" point guard admitted that he probably won't think of returning to the NBA for another one or two years and calls his exit from Cleveland "unfortunate."
- Earlier today, Yahoo's Marc J. Spears reported that Cavs number one overall pick Anthony Bennett resumed playing five-on-five basketball this week.
- Nets star Deron Williams is even more eager to get the season started after hearing head coach Jason Kidd and teammate Jason Terry say they expect him to be a part of the MVP conversation in 2013/14 (link via Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report).
- Despite NBA commissioner David Stern's recent efforts to quell tension between the Knicks and Nets owners, the players don't seem to be necessarily following suit. When Paul Pierce was asked today about J.R. Smith calling him a bitter person recently, the Brooklyn forward tersely responded with "Who? Who are we talking about right now? Exactly" (Tim Bontempts of the New York Post).
Eastern Rumors: LeBron, Cavs, Beasley, McGrady
The Eastern Conference figures to be more competitive this time around, with Derrick Rose back to boost the Bulls, an improved Pacers squad, and the best team money can buy for the Nets all around to challenge the Heat. Still, the majority of Hoops Rumors readers who voted in yesterday's poll think the East will once more field the league's worst team, picking the Sixers to finish last. Here's the latest from the conference that has produced the last two champions and the last two teams to finish with the league's worst record:
- The Cavaliers surely wouldn't mind it if LeBron James has a change of heart and wants to rejoin the wine-and-gold next summer, but the team isn't counting on him coming back to Cleveland, as Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer writes in her weekly mailbag column. Boyer also says she believes the Cavs are looking for another big man and a backup point guard, and she doesn't think a poor season for the team will mean the ouster of GM Chris Grant.
- Mark Deeks of ShamSports confirms that Michael Beasley's minimum-salary contract with the Heat is essentially a training camp invitation, with no guaranteed money (Twitter link).
- Tracy McGrady reveals to Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star that he wishes he never left the Raptors for Orlando in 2000, and he feels like the heavy minutes he played for the Magic took a toll on his body, which broke down long before most others do.
- We rounded up news on Atlantic Division teams earlier today.