Central Notes: Jefferson, Vaughn, Pistons, Pacers
Richard Jefferson felt uncomfortable with the prospect of playing for the Mavericks once DeAndre Jordan turned his back on the team, and the veteran small forward took agent Jeff Schwartz’s advice to take a delicate approach to undoing his own verbal commitment to Dallas, as Jefferson details to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. The 35-year-old signed a guaranteed one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Cavs after asking Mark Cuban’s permission to break off their deal.
“And so, [Schwartz] was like: ‘Well, Rich, I can call, but we should probably tell the Mavs first. And let’s see. Because I don’t want to call the Cavs and all of the sudden the Cavs call the Mavs about what’s going on and it comes back on me and it looks like I’m trying to do stuff behind their back,'” Jefferson said. “And so, we talked to Mark first and I asked him for permission, and he said, ‘That’s fine.’ And then there was some interest here [in Cleveland] and it was pretty much a no brainer.”
See more from the Central Division:
- Rashad Vaughn‘s mature demeanor impressed Bucks coach Jason Kidd before Milwaukee drafted him 17th overall this June, and the rookie is making waves on the court, too, as Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel examines. “The Vaughn kid put on a show in the fourth quarter, as he did in Chicago the other night,” Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said after his team’s game against the Bucks Saturday. “We’re going to be dealing with him for a long time in the league. He’s got a quick release and can really, really shoot the ball.”
- Detroit has experienced a whirlwind of player movement under Van Gundy, so in spite of their apparent interest in Markieff Morris, the Pistons would be well-served to consider the benefits of roster stability over yet another change, opines Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.
- The commitment to a traditional lineup that the Pacers made in the past seemed aimed at beating the Heat, but now that president of basketball operations Larry Bird has shifted the team’s roster and on-court philosophy, Paul George isn’t the only one who must fit in, argues RealGM’s Andrew Perna. Coach Frank Vogel, who’s under contract through 2016/17, must also prove he can lead a more potent attack on offense.
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
Southwest Notes: Mavericks, Thibodeau, Ginobili
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle plans to keep and use all four of his point guards, tweets Dwain Price of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. New acquisition Deron Williams, who signed with Dallas after being waived by the Nets this summer, has joined J.J. Barea, Raymond Felton and Devin Harris in a crowded backcourt. “We’re going to keep all our point guards,” Carlisle said. “All those guys, Williams, Barea, Harris, Felton, those guys are going to be on the team.”
There’s more this morning from the Southwest Division:
- Dallas has been one of the stops for former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau as he makes the rounds of NBA training camps, according to Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. Thibodeau expects the Mavericks to contend for the playoffs even after losing key players such as Monta Ellis, Al-Farouq Aminu, Amar’e Stoudemire and Rajon Rondo. “Rick’s been here a long time, and he’s had to adjust and adapt to injuries, guys leaving in free agency — you have a different team,” Thibodeau said. “But every year, he finds a way to win.”
- The Spurs‘ Manu Ginobili may have a more important role off the court than on it this season, writes Mike Monroe of The San Antonio Express-News. The 38-year-old averaged a career-low 22.7 minutes per game in 2014/15, and that number may drop this year. “He’s a leader, and he’s part of the fabric of the team, so none of that changes,” coach Gregg Popovich said of Ginobili. “I’ll probably be conservative with his number of games, and I imagine he will discuss that with me because he won’t fully agree probably and we’ll come to some sort of an arrangement. We always do.”
- Jonathon Simmons is surprising the Spurs with his passing ability, according to Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News. The 26-year-old once averaged 36.5 points per game in the American Basketball League, so the Spurs knew he could score, but he’s getting noticed in camp as a distributor. “This is a team where passing is most important and finding the open guy,” Simmons said. “Just like I’ve done in the past, just thrive on finding gaps – sort of like what LeBron does. … I just know that’s a plus here with guys that can shoot the ball well, so I just try and find the open guy as much as I can.”
Southwest Notes: Clippers, Jenkins, Aldridge
Employing daily meditation and a vegan diet, one that he’s trying to convince Anthony Davis to adopt, Chris Douglas-Roberts is taking a more sanguine approach to his career than he used to as he fights for a regular season roster spot on the Pelicans, as John Reid of The Times Picayune details. The Pelicans have six players, including Douglas-Roberts, who don’t have fully guaranteed salary and 13 who do. ”I was a first-team All-American [in college] — top five player in the country — and got drafted second round,” Douglas-Roberts said. ”So I carried a little bit bitterness and anger from that. I still performed when I was given an opportunity. But my energy just wasn’t right. Now my energy is right.”
Here’s more happenings from the Southwest Division:
- John Jenkins has impressed Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle with his aggressive play, though Jenkins, a shooting guard by trade, has had his struggles while filling in at point guard due to a number of injuries, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com writes. “The learning curve is always going to be there with young players. You know, we’ve got some young guys that are getting a real chance to play and are learning things. That said, I really like Jenkins. You know, Jenkins has played a real aggressive game both of the last two nights. He’s shown he can handle the ball a little bit. He’s done a good job, and he’s got to continue doing what he’s been doing,” Carlisle told Sneed.
- The Rockets have been encouraged thus far by the preseason showings of second-year players K.J. McDaniels and Clint Capela, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle notes. Capela was selected with the No. 25 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, and McDaniels re-signed with the team over the summer after having been acquired from the Sixers at last February’s deadline in exchange for Isaiah Canaan and a second-round pick.
- LaMarcus Aldridge, who left the Trail Blazers over the summer to sign a four-year, $84MM deal with the Spurs, is still acclimating himself to San Antonio’s system, but he is pleased with his progress thus far, writes Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. After making his preseason debut against his former team, Aldridge said, “The night was [a] little overwhelming because it doesn’t really hit you until you really go put on the jersey and then you go play. I knew I was in San Antonio, but it doesn’t really hit you until you’re on the court trying to figure out how to run an offense again and things like that. But I think the process has been going well so far.“
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Martin, Clippers, World Peace
The Timberwolves are planning to start Zach LaVine at shooting guard instead of Kevin Martin, even though interim coach Sam Mitchell admits Martin is better than Lavine is at this point, notes Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. The team is focused on player development, and Minnesota believes LaVine will move past his on-court rookie mistakes from last season, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe examines. Lowe also speculates about a variety of potential trade destinations for Martin, though it doesn’t appear there’s any movement on that front for now, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets. The Mavericks, who were reportedly among the teams interested in him around the trade deadline in February, have backed off, Wolfson adds (via Twitter link).
- Metta World Peace says he turned down an offer from the Clippers in the summer of 2014 before he signed to play in China last season, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News relays. He reportedly worked out at the Clippers practice facility that summer, but Clips coach/executive Doc Rivers appeared to downplay the idea that his team was eyeing World Peace for a late-season deal. “In China, I had to get my game back,” World Peace said. “Doc asked me to come to the Clippers. I told him, ‘I’m going to China first. When I come back, I’ll come to the Clippers.’ I want to get my game back on.”
- World Peace never did play with the Clippers, instead signing a non-guaranteed deal with the Lakers, who’ve allowed him to fulfill his wish for a reunion with Kobe Bryant, even if it’s only for training camp, Medina notes in the same piece. “Kobe is the main reason why I worked so hard in the last couple of years,” said World Peace, who, despite that work, admits he’s not in shape. “I always wanted to come back and play with Kobe. I remember playing with Kobe, the sacrifices he made, playing hard, making unbelievable shots and showing unbelievable fundamentals. People can say he’s selfish all they want. But in the game, he’s so fundamentally sound. That’s tough to be fundamentally sound under all that pressure.”
Southwest Notes: Parker, Anderson, Lawson, Mavs
Tony Parker has let the Spurs know that he wants another three-year deal when his three-year extension that kicks in for this season expires in 2018, as the point guard said to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. That would give him 20 years in the NBA, and after that he’d be ready to retire, Parker told Spears, adding that he’s confident he’ll have a bounceback season after struggling last year.
“It’s very rare for any player in any sport – soccer, football, baseball – to play their whole career with the same team,” Parker said. “So it would definitely mean a lot to me to do like David Robinson and Timmy [Duncan] and Manu [Ginobili]. It would be great to be a part of the history of being with the same team. My time will come soon. But I definitely want to enjoy my last years in the NBA.”
Parker also mentioned to Spears that he sought advice from Steve Nash this summer about how to sustain his body. See more from around the Southwest Division:
- Ryan Anderson is entering a contract year and thinks the arrival of new Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry will be beneficial for him, as the stretch four explained to Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders. “His up-tempo pace is perfect for this group, and it’s great for me personally,” Anderson said. “[We’re] able to spread the floor, play naturally and go with the flow of the game rather than being really precise and running specific plays or getting over-organized and over-thinking things. There are players that can do a lot of different things and we want to take advantage of that. I think I fit into that category, that there’s a lot of things that I can do in this offense. We’re pushing it up the floor and pushing the pace. That’s good for me.”
- James Harden finished second in MVP voting last season, but the Rockets traded for Ty Lawson in part to change Harden’s role in the offense in a way that Harden called for prior to the deal, as Jonathan Feigen writes for Bleacher Report. “With Ty, I think we can take the ball out of [Harden’s) hands, let him play off the catch, let him play a little more free, not having so much ball responsibilities. I think that will help him. I think he’s harder to guard like that,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. “We talked about that. That was kind of our goal.”
- The Mavericks are at a potential turning point for their franchise as they slip farther from the elite, and even Dirk Nowitzki admits, as he enters his age-37 season, that the team doesn’t have a superstar anymore, observes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
Mavs Notes: Parsons, Matthews, Evans
The potential for better floor spacing thanks to the moves the Mavs made this offseason intrigues Chandler Parsons, who nonetheless still rues the about–face DeAndre Jordan made after committing to the team, observes Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.
“I think I’ve earned the right to speak freely about the Mavs and our future. There was no way DJ was going to come unless I presented our pitch,” Parsons said to Charania. “It’s not like I was gassing him up and lying. Everything he was saying that he wanted, we were going to give to him. Everything: the opportunity to get the ball more, to be an MVP candidate, to be the man and take the next step in his career. It’s not like I was just making this [expletive] up. He’s still a friend. But when I saw him in Las Vegas for Team USA, all I could really say was, ‘Are you [expletive] serious?'”
Absent Jordan, Parsons is embracing the “opportunity to be the man and an All-Star” with the Mavericks as he makes his way back from knee surgery, and he won’t rule out making a rehab appearance with the team’s D-League affiliate, as he tells Charania for the same story. A D-League assignment is nonetheless unlikely, Parsons indicates. See more from Dallas:
- Wesley Matthews isn’t too upset with Jordan his reversal, perhaps unsurprisingly, since the total value of Matthews’ deal escalated from roughly $13MM a year to the max of about $17.5MM annually when Jordan reneged on his agreement. “He made his own decision and that was it,” Matthews said to Grantland’s Jonathan Abrams. “Am I mad that he changed his mind? No. The only thing that I have an issue with is, I’m reaching out [and] he just didn’t hit me back. If you’re like, ‘Hey, man, I feel this way,’ it’s fine. I’m not going to hold a gun to your head and say, ‘You can’t go.’ At the end of the day, we’ve got to make the best decision. If you thought it was here and realized it wasn’t, I can’t fault you for that.”
- The Suns were among the teams that showed interest in Matthews this summer, Abrams notes within his piece.
- The Mavericks like the versatility of Jeremy Evans, and he’s performed well so far in his initial preseason action for the team, as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News chronicles. Evans signed a fully guaranteed two-year, minimum salary deal this summer. “It’s pretty clear he’s going to be one of our better defensive players with his activity and length,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “He’s an above-the-rim kind of guy. He’s going to have to guard a lot of different positions.”
- Check out Mark Cuban’s idea for a supplemental draft that he detailed in a Hoops Rumors exclusive.
Exclusive: Mark Cuban Offers Idea For Draft
Teams across the NBA are loaded this time of year with players who signed as undrafted free agents. The impending addition of former Rutgers power forward Kadeem Jack to the Pacers will make it 44 players on NBA rosters who went undrafted this year. They outnumber the 2015 draftees, of whom only 41 are under contract with NBA teams. A few GMs reportedly believe a decent chance exists the NBA draft will expand beyond two rounds once the D-League has 30 teams, but Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has an idea for a different sort of draft entirely, as he explained when Hoops Rumors asked him what he would change about NBA free agency.
“I would have a supplemental draft every summer for undrafted free agents of the current and previous 3 years,” Cuban wrote in an email to Hoops Rumors. “If you are more than 3 years out you are not eligible and just a free agent.”
The supplemental draft would have two rounds, and teams would hold the rights to the players they select for two years, Cuban added. Players can opt out and choose not to make themselves eligible, but those who get picked would receive fully guaranteed minimum-salary contracts when they sign, according to Cuban’s proposal.
“That would make it fun a few weeks after the draft and pre-summer league,” Cuban wrote. “It would prevent some of the insanity that goes on to build summer league rosters.”
Cuban said that he’s raised the idea in some conversations, though no formal discussions have taken place. Instituting a second-chance draft like this would require approval from the players association and probably necessitate changes to the language in the collective bargaining agreement. Commissioner Adam Silver and union executive director Michele Roberts are already talking, if only informally, about labor issues, with both sides having the power to opt out of the labor agreement in 2017, so an idea like this could come to the table in the months ahead.
The players would certainly like the idea of fully guaranteed deals, since most of the undrafted free agents who would be eligible for Cuban’s supplemental draft and who signed this summer have only partial guarantees, at best. They’d also probably like that they’d be able to opt out of the supplemental draft entirely, since it would preserve their ability to negotiate with multiple teams if they want to. That power in many cases puts undrafted players in more favorable positions than the ones their second-round brethren are in, so part of the intrigue of the supplemental draft would be seeing which players would be willing to sacrifice that flexibility in exchange for the chance at a guaranteed contract.
I’d speculate that some teams would want to tweak the proposal so that they have the ability to opt out, too. That would come in handy for teams that enter July with a high volume of guaranteed contracts already on the books. Of course, teams wouldn’t have to sign the players they selected immediately, just as with the conventional draft, though in the stipulations Cuban laid out, they would only have two years to bring supplemental draftees onto the roster before their draft rights expire. The existing draft allows teams to roll over a player’s draft rights in perpetuity as long as they keep making non-guaranteed required tenders every year.
The proposal would take some of the hassle out of summer league for teams, and it would also further legitimize summer league, since it would more closely tie summer league rosters to camp and regular season rosters. It would involve not just players freshly passed over in the draft but those who’d already played professionally for a few years, too. Cuban didn’t say whether players with NBA experience would be involved, though presumably players under NBA contracts or with Bird rights tied to an NBA team would be excluded.
Cuban’s idea is somewhat reminiscent of Major League Baseball’s Rule 5 draft, which involves overlooked prospects and requires teams to keep draftees on big-league rosters. Cuban answered affirmatively when Hoops Rumors asked if the current system allowed for enough creativity in structuring deals, but clearly, he wouldn’t mind seeing an extra layer of intrigue to the NBA’s offseason. Time will tell if the other owners and the players are willing to go along.
What do you think of Cuban’s idea for a supplemental draft? Leave a comment to share your take on his plan and any proposals of your own.
Western Notes: Kroenke, Lillard, D-League
The National Football League gave its OK to Stan Kroenke’s plan to transfer ownership of the Nuggets to his wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, satisfying an NFL rule barring its owners from also owning another pro sports team in an NFL city, report Nathan Fenno and Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. Kroenke’s son Josh, who already serves as Nuggets team president and is the team’s representative on the board of governors, will continue to run the Nuggets and the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche, Fenno and Farmer add. Stan Kroenke owns the NFL’s St. Louis Rams.
Here’s more from the West:
- Damian Lillard, with input from C.J. McCollum, organized a team getaway to San Diego for the Trail Blazers in an effort to draw together all the newcomers from an offseason of upheaval in Portland, writes Anne M. Peterson of The Associated Press. It furthers the notion that Lillard, who signed a five-year max extension this summer, has replaced LaMarcus Aldridge as the team’s central figure, Peterson writes. “It’s still going to take us time to get to know each other. It’s going to take more than a week in San Diego, or getting here early before camp,” Lillard said. “It’s going to take more than that. Being out together in the preseason, we’ll learn more about each other. … I think it’s about the growth, the process.”
- The Spurs announced via a press release that Patrick Mutombo and A.J. Diggs have been hired as assistant coaches for their D-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs. “The additions of Patrick and AJ bring a wealth of NBA and player development experience to our team that will serve our group well moving forward,” said coach Ken McDonald. “We are fortunate to continue to attract strong candidates to join our coaching staff.”
- The Mavericks‘ rotation at center is unsettled and while it’s not ideal, the team is counting on veteran big man Samuel Dalembert to contribute this season, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com writes. “Dalembert’s having a solid camp,” coach Rick Carlisle said after Tuesday night’s preseason contest against the Nuggets. “He came in a little bit out of shape. He’s working really hard to get himself where he needs to be. I thought his minutes tonight were positive.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Grizzlies Sign Alex Stepheson, Cut Michael Holyfield
2:59pm: The Grizzlies followed up with a press release to formally announce the Stepheson signing.
2:38pm: Holyfield’s release is official, the team announced, though the Grizzlies made no mention of Stepheson.
12:24pm: The Grizzlies are switching out big men on their camp roster, waiving center Michael Holyfield to make room for the signing of power forward Alex Stepheson, reports Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal (Twitter link). Tillery indicates the transactions have already taken place, though the team has not made an announcement. Stepheson, who went undrafted out of USC in 2011, was with the Mavericks in summer league this year, but this will be his first NBA contract. It’ll be for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Grizzlies can hand out after using their mid-level exception on Brandan Wright, though the level of guarantee on Stepheson’s deal isn’t immediately clear. Holyfield, who signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Grizzlies in August, went scoreless in eight minutes in Tuesday’s preseason opener for Memphis. The Grizzlies roster will remain at the preseason limit of 20.
Stepheson, 28, scored a total of five points in about 18 minutes of playing time spread across three games with the summer league Mavs in July. He also appeared in summer league with the Kings in 2014, but most of his pro career has played out overseas. Stepheson averaged 12.3 points and 9.2 boards in 26.8 minutes per game across 29 appearances with Turkey’s Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyesi last season, showing his skill as a high-volume rebounder. He began his college career at North Carolina before transferring to USC, where he pulled down 9.2 RPG in 32.9 MPG as a senior in 2010/11.
Holyfield was with the Grizzlies summer league team this year before formally joining the Memphis roster. He went undrafted out of Sam Houston State in June. The Grizzlies can retain his D-League rights if they wish, just as they can with as many as four of the players they waive. Fellow Memphis camp invitee Dan Nwaelele, whom the Grizzlies waived earlier this week, appears set to become one of those four, as international journalist David Pick reported that he’s on his way to the D-League affiliate of the Grizzlies.
Memphis has 14 full guarantees plus a partial guarantee for JaMychal Green, as our roster count shows. Thus, Stepheson doesn’t appear to have much of a chance to stick with the Grizzlies for long, so he, too, is a candidate to end up with their D-League team.