Southwest Notes: Thornton, Matthews, Grizzlies
Marcus Thornton signed with the Rockets this summer knowing that he wasn’t assured a spot in the rotation, much less a starting job, but he felt as though the team was a strong match for his skills and was willing to bet he could boost his value on a one-year deal, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle examines. Coach Kevin McHale elected to go small and promote Thornton to the starting five after the team’s first two games, Feigen notes, a move that’s paid dividends, since Thornton has been the team’s second leading scorer so far.
“It’s been great,” Thornton said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in an offense with coaches that have the ultimate confidence in you. When a coach has the ultimate confidence in you, it’s easy to go out there and play, let the chips fall where they may. If you mess up, get back, get it again. It’s great when you have guys that share the ball, too. It’s fun.”
See more from the Southwest Division:
- Agent Jeff Austin thought six teams would aggressively court Wesley Matthews in free agency this past summer if he were healthy, but only two went hard after him, according to TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. One was the Mavericks, who reportedly wound up lifting the value of their deal with Matthews from $57MM to the max of about $70MM after DeAndre Jordan reneged on his decision to sign with Dallas. Both the Raptors and Kings were apparently talking to Matthews before he agreed to join the Mavs, so it’s unclear which of them went farther than the other.
- The Grizzlies have no shortage of issues, but poor performances and a lack of cohesion from Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and coach Dave Joerger are far and away the most troublesome, opines Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal.
- The Pelicans don’t have a lot of assets to trade, aside from their future draft picks, but even amid a bleak outlook for this season thanks to their injury-hit 0-6 start, their future remains bright, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller believes. That said, New Orleans is the only NBA team without a rookie, as we pointed out.
- We rounded up news on the Spurs earlier today.
Western Notes: Matthews, Aminu, Thunder
Wesley Matthews, who signed a four-year, max deal with the Mavs in July, is able to do more on his surgically-repaired left leg and there is a distinct possibility he will play without a minutes restriction by the end of November, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes. Sefko cites a couple of key plays, including a dive the shooting guard made, in Saturday’s game as steps forward for Matthews, who is limited to around 30 minutes per game.
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Al-Farouq Aminu is blossoming into a consistent scorer after inking a four-year deal with the Blazers during the summer because he is being utilized in a variety of ways offensively, Mike Richman of The Oregonian details. While Aminu’s best skill remains his versatility on defense, as Richman adds, Aminu is pushing the ball in fast-breaks and is more involved in pick-and-rolls. “I always thought that he was a solid piece to every team that he had been on. But he never had the opportunity to be the offensive player that he is for us,” Blazers point guard Damian Lillard said. “And I don’t think it was ever needed from him to be what he is for us.”
- Not much has changed so far statistically for the Thunder under new coach Billy Donovan as the team still isn’t strong defensively, a scout explained to Sam Amick of USA Today Sports. Before Sunday’s game, the Thunder were allowing 108 points per game so far this season, which was 27th in the league.
- Jason Thompson, formerly of the Kings, clarified the comment he made last month when he said the comparison between his old team and the Warriors (his current team) is night and day, telling Matt Kawahara of the Sacramento Bee he just meant Golden State is “established.” “I just meant that there wasn’t uncertainty of positions, there wasn’t uncertainty of the front office, and everyone got along,” Thompson said of the Warriors.
Southwest Notes: Williams, Ginobili, Anderson
The Mavericks hope Saturday’s game was a breakthrough for new point guard Deron Williams, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. Williams, who signed with Dallas in July after agreeing to a buyout with the Nets, hit two key shots late in a victory over the Pelicans. “I don’t like to talk about my time in Brooklyn,” Williams said, “but a lot of times I was in the corner waiting and watching, so it felt good to just have the ball at the end of the game and be able to make a play.”
There’s more from the Southwest Division:
- At age 38, Manu Ginobili has become less reckless on the court, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express News. The longtime Spur received a new two-year deal over the summer worth $5.7MM, with a player option for the second season. “I am changing the way I play a lot,” he said. “I still have that essence, but, of course, I don’t have the ability to go all the way as I used to do, or get to the line, or throw my body onto defenders. I have to mix it up, pick my battles, less minutes. But the good thing is I’m still having fun and I’m enjoying the season. I’m very happy and optimistic about our chances.”
- Second-year player Kyle Anderson admitted “everything surprised me” during his rookie season with the Spurs, writes Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Anderson is still seeing limited playing time in San Antonio, but the team displayed confidence by exercising its third-year option on him for the 2016/17 season. “You kinda think you have a feel from what’s going on because you’re in high school and you know a few NBA players and they tell you what it’s like,” Anderson said, “but I’ve come to know, in my second year, that what you think you know… It’s not that.”
- Despite bringing back the core of last season’s Western Conference finalists, Rockets coach Kevin McHale told Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com he sometimes feels like he has “a new team.” Houston’s only major offseason deal was trading four players to Denver for Ty Lawson, but with forwards Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas out with injuries and center Dwight Howard not playing in back-to-back games, McHale has had to shuffle his lineup. “It’s a lot of hit and miss,” McHale said. “It feels, honestly, like live darts you’re throwing at the dartboard and seeing what you get.”
Southwest Notes: Carlisle, McGee, Douglas, Hayes
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban usually doesn’t do extensions, but he made an exception with coach Rick Carlisle, whom he signed to a five-year, $35MM extension Thursday, notes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News details.
“I don’t say, ‘Here, this is the way it’s always going to be.’ The worst policy in the world is to be dogmatic about your policies,” Cuban said. “It was clear he wanted to stay. He didn’t put pressure on us at all. We reached out. What it confirms is we’ll never put money over winning. Winning always comes first.”
It was the right idea for both the team and the coach to extend the contract now, given the questions about whether the Mavericks can do much winning this season, since it removes any doubts about Carlisle’s future, opines fellow Morning News scribe Kevin Sherrington. See more on the Mavs amid the latest from around the Southwest Division:
- It’s unlikely that JaVale McGee plays anytime in November, and his timetable for a return from his lingering leg injury is weeks, not days, tweets Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com. McGee’s with the Mavs on a $750K partial guarantee he locked in when he made the opening night roster.
- The Pelicans gave Toney Douglas a $50K partial guarantee as part of his deal with them, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). It’s a prorated two-year, minimum-salary contract, according to Pincus.
- The deal that the Rockets signed with Chuck Hayes this past weekend covers one year at the prorated minimum salary and is non-guaranteed, Pincus also shows. Since it’s only a one-year deal, it counts toward Houston’s tax and hard cap at only the two-year veteran’s minimum rate instead of the full 10-year minimum that the 32-year-old Hayes is actually making. The league will pay the difference.
Mavs Sign Rick Carlisle To Extension
4:55pm: The extension is official, the Mavericks announced via press release. “We are excited to retain Coach Carlisle in the Mavericks family,” Cuban said. “He is a championship-caliber coach that has made this organization better on and off the court.”
The coach was equally excited about remaining with Dallas. “Mark Cuban, Donnie Nelson and Dirk Nowitzki are the reason an extension like this is possible,” Carlisle said. “I have the best owner and general manager in sports, and one of the greatest players in NBA history to thank for this opportunity. There is much work to be done as we move forward.”
3:59pm: The Mavericks and head coach Rick Carlisle have reached an agreement on a five-year, $35MM contract extension, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). Carlisle will finish out his current deal covering both this season as well as 2016/17, which is a team option, and his extension will run through the 2021/22 campaign, Stein notes. Stein first reported that the two sides were close to reaching an agreement last month.
Carlisle signed a four-year deal before the 2012/13 season, and team owner Mark Cuban had said a few weeks ago that he and Carlisle shared interest in continuing their partnership for the long term. Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson also said this past spring that Carlisle could remain with Dallas as long as he wished.
The 56-year-old is the president of the NBA Coaches Association and is widely respected around the league. Carlisle led the Mavs to the NBA title in 2011 and has been with the franchise since May 2008, making him the third longest-tenured head coach in the NBA. He won Coach of the Year honors for the Pistons back in 2002, which was his first season as an NBA head coach. Carlisle led Detroit to back-to-back 50-win seasons before beginning a four-year tenure with the Pacers. He’s 619-431 over 13 full seasons as an NBA head coach, and he owns a 57-58 postseason record. For Dallas, he’s gone 338-220 in the regular season and 27-26 in the playoffs.
Western Notes: Mudiay, Davis, West
Lakers coach Byron Scott thinks Nuggets rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay will be “pretty good,” but he had concerns about his three-point shooting and wasn’t as high on him coming into the draft as he was on D’Angelo Russell, whom the Lakers picked second overall, writes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Discussing what stood out about Russell leading up to the draft, Scott said, “His workouts were extremely good. You saw the leadership qualities that he had. You saw the ability to pass the ball and make other guys better, the ability to get to the basket and the ability to knock down 3s, open jump shots and off-the-dribble shots. He had the total package offensively. Defensively, the one thing I thought he did was he competed.”
Here’s more from out of the Western Conference:
- Unrestricted free agent Glen Davis, who was reportedly garnering strong interest from the Clippers prior to undergoing surgery to repair torn ligaments, a cyst, and bone spurs in his left ankle, is expected to resume basketball activities by the end of this month, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports relays (via Twitter).
- Power forward David West knew that he’d be sacrificing playing time as well as money when he signed with the Spurs this past offseason, a move that he hopes will result in him winning an NBA title, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News writes. “If I was worried about that stuff, I would have stayed in Indy,” said West, who is coming off the bench for the first time since his second NBA season. “At this stage, it’s just not about that for me.”
- Mavericks camp cut Jarrid Famous has signed with Fujian of China, as the Chinese outlet LeTV reported last week (hat tip to the Altius Culture agency) and as international journalist David Pick confirms (Twitter link). Famous replaces Nikoloz Tskitishvili, who’s now signed to play in Japan and who was reportedly engaged in a dispute with Fujian, the team with which he signed after his brief comeback attempt with the Clippers, notes Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
NBA Teams Designate Affiliate Players
NBA teams cut as much as 25% of their rosters at the end of the preseason, but franchises that have D-League affiliates have a way to maintain ties to many of the players they release from the NBA roster. An NBA team can claim the D-League rights to up to four of the players it waives, as long as the players clear waivers, consent to join the D-League, and don’t already have their D-League rights owned by another team. These are known as affiliate players, as our Hoops Rumors Glossary entry details.
NBA teams allocated 46 affiliate players to the D-League at the beginning of the season last year, and this year, that number has risen to 56, according to the list the D-League announced today. These players are going directly to the D-League affiliate of the NBA team that cut them and weren’t eligible for the D-League draft that took place Saturday. Teams that designated fewer than the maximum four affiliate players retain the ability to snag the D-League rights of players they waive during the regular season, but for now, this is the complete list:
Boston Celtics (Maine Red Claws)
Cleveland Cavaliers (Canton Charge)
Dallas Mavericks (Texas Legends)
Detroit Pistons (Grand Rapids Drive)
Golden State Warriors (Santa Cruz Warriors)
Houston Rockets (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
Indiana Pacers (Fort Wayne Mad Ants)
Los Angeles Lakers (Los Angeles D-Fenders)
Memphis Grizzlies (Iowa Energy)
Miami Heat (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
New York Knicks (Westchester Knicks)
Oklahoma City Thunder (Oklahoma City Blue)
- Michael Cobbins
- Mustapha Farrakhan
- Michael Qualls
- Dez Wells
Orlando Magic (Erie BayHawks)
Philadelphia 76ers (Delaware 87ers)
Phoenix Suns (Bakersfield Jam)
Sacramento Kings (Reno Bighorns)
San Antonio Spurs (Austin Spurs)
Toronto Raptors (Raptors 905)
Utah Jazz (Idaho Stampede)
Also, several players who were on NBA preseason rosters are on D-League rosters through means other than the affiliate player rule. Most of them played under D-League contracts at some point within the last two years, meaning their D-League teams have returning player rights to them. Others entered through last weekend’s D-League draft, while others saw their D-League rights conveyed via trade. Most of these players aren’t with the D-League affiliate of the NBA team they were with last month, with a few exceptions.
- Keith Appling, Magic — Magic affiliate
- Jordan Bachynski, Pistons — Knicks affiliate
- Earl Barron, Hawks — Suns affiliate
- Sampson Carter, Grizzlies — Cavaliers affiliate (D-League draft)
- Patrick Christopher, Grizzlies — Grizzlies affiliate
- Bryce Cotton, Jazz — Spurs affiliate
- Michael Dunigan, Cavaliers — Cavaliers affiliate
- Jarell Eddie, Warriors — Spurs affiliate
- C.J. Fair, Pacers — Pacers affiliate
- Jimmer Fredette, Spurs — Knicks affiliate
- Stefhon Hannah, Bulls — Pistons affiliate
- Jaron Johnson, Wizards — Rockets affiliate
- Omari Johnson, Trail Blazers — Celtics affiliate
- Perry Jones III, Celtics — Grizzlies affiliate (D-League draft)
- Tre Kelley, Heat — Heat affiliate
- Jordan McRae, Sixers — Sixers affiliate (D-League draft)
- Cartier Martin, Pistons — Grizzlies affiliate
- Toure’ Murry, Wizards — Mavericks affiliate (traded with Rockets affiliate for his D-League rights)
- Dan Nwaelele, Grizzlies — Warriors affiliate
- Marcus Simmons, Bulls — Pacers affiliate
- E.J. Singler, Jazz — Jazz affiliate
- DaJuan Summers, Knicks — Knicks affiliate
- Adonis Thomas, Pistons — Pistons affiliate
- Sam Thompson, Hornets — Pistons affiliate (D-League draft)
- J.P. Tokoto, Sixers — Thunder affiliate (traded for his D-League rights)
- Talib Zanna, Thunder — Thunder affiliate
Roster information from Adam Johnson of D-League Digest, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor and freelancer and Hoops Rumors contributor Mark Porcaro was used in the creation of this post.
Southwest Notes: Mavs, Pelicans, Spurs
Dirk Nowitzki said that he still is surprised by the decision made by DeAndre Jordan and added Jordan abruptly stopped texting with the Mavs star when he reversed course and elected to re-sign with the Clippers, Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com relays. Jordan declined to comment when asked about the decision. Mavs owner Mark Cuban said he has not spoken to Jordan since July 9th, MacMahon adds.
“I think we were disappointed, but we still have to move on as a franchise, and that’s what we did,” Nowitzki said. “That happens in free agency sometimes.”
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry wants his team to play a better style of defense, with an emphasis on the perimeter, and to utilize their roster versatility to switch on pick-and-rolls, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News details. To that end, Gentry wants to limit the amount of time Anthony Davis spends in the post. That is in stark contrast to how Davis, the league’s leading shot blocker last year, has been used in the past, Deveney adds.
- Rasual Butler told reporters, including Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News, that he is delighted to have made the Spurs‘ regular season roster. “This is the gold standard of the NBA,” Butler said. “To have the opportunity to be part of this culture; to play for Coach [Gregg] Popovich just the way that we play the game is a huge deal for me. It’s very exciting to be a part of this.”
- Optimism surrounds the Mavs because of Chandler Parsons‘ impending return and Dallas’ ball movement in coach Rick Carlisle‘s motion-driven system on offense, opines Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News.
Southwest Notes: Douglas, Kazemi, Pachulia
Toney Douglas‘ new contract with the Pelicans covers two years, with the second year non-guaranteed, tweets Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops. New Orleans signed the 29-year-old guard Friday after waiving Nate Robinson. This is the second stint with the Pelicans for Douglas, who signed two 10-day contracts and a multiyear deal with the team last season. However, the Pelicans waived him in July to avoid guaranteeing his salary for this season. Douglas cleared waivers earlier this week after being released by the Pacers.
There’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Arsalan Kazemi, who was with the Rockets briefly this preseason, will play overseas rather than in the D-League, tweets Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. Kazemi was waived last week after being claimed on waivers from the Hawks on October 12th. He appeared in one preseason game with Houston.
- Dirk Nowitzki is a already a huge fan of new teammate Zaza Pachulia, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. Pachulia, who came to Dallas in a July trade with the Bucks, had 10 points and 10 rebounds in his first game with the Mavericks. “I don’t think I’ve played with a smarter center than he is,” Nowitzki said.
“Just making smart plays, setting good picks, getting guys open. He’s a good passer for his size and just makes really, really smart plays.” - The Grizzlies know what to expect from their core starters, but their level of success could depend on complementary players, writes Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal. Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, Mike Conley and Tony Allen are established after playing in 279 games together entering this season, according to Herrington, but it’s the contribution of other players, such as offseason addition Brandan Wright, who could determine if Memphis makes a serious run at the title.
2015/16 Salary Cap: Dallas Mavericks
The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 has been set at $70MM, which is an 11% increase from this past season, and the luxury tax line will be $84.74MM. The last cap projection from the league had been $67.1MM, and the projection for the tax line had been $81.6MM.
With the October 26th cutoff date to set regular season rosters now past, we at Hoops Rumors are in the process of running down the current salary cap commitments for each NBA franchise for the 2015/16 campaign. Here’s the cap breakdown for the Dallas Mavericks, whose regular season roster can be viewed here:
- 2015/16 Salary Cap= $70,000,000
- 2015/16 Luxury Tax Line= $84,740,000
- Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $71,163,485*
- Partially Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $860,000**
- Non-Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $520,964
- Total Salary Cap Commitments= $72,544,449
- Remaining Cap Room= -$2,544,449
- Amount Below Luxury Tax Line= $12,195,551
*Note: This amount includes the $315,759 owed to Gal Mekel, who was waived via the stretch provision, as well as the $1,499,187 due Samuel Dalembert, who was also waived.
**Note: This amount includes the $50K owed to both Jamil Wilson and Brandon Ashley, as well as the $10K owed to Jarrid Famous, all of whom were waived by the team.
Cap Exceptions Available:
- Room Exception= $2,814,000
Cash Available to Send Out In Trades= $3,400,000
Cash Available to Receive Via Trade= $3,400,000
Last updated: 10/31/15 @ 5:10pm
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.