Southwest Notes: Pelicans, Togashi, Mavs, Asik
With Tyreke Evans‘ spot as a starter for the Pelicans all but assured, Darius Miller, Luke Babbitt, and John Salmons are all essentially competing to make the roster and land the reserve small forward role, observes Jimmy Smith of the Times-Picayune. Given that Salmons is the only member of the trio with a fully guaranteed deal, he might be the early favorite to secure the backup spot. Still, it’s too early dismiss Miller and Babbitt’s chances to make the team, since both players have contracts featuring partial guarantees on a New Orleans roster carrying just 12 completely guaranteed pacts. It wouldn’t be surprising if all three of the wings in question find themselves on the club past opening night. As we wait to see how the Pelicans’ roster shapes up, let’s look at more from the Southwest:
- The Mavs will officially sign Yuki Togashi after he passes his physical today, reveals Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News, who adds that Togashi will be waived before the regular season begins, allowing Dallas to retain his D-League rights going forward. We passed along that the two sides were set on a deal last week and suspected that Togashi was a long-shot to make the opening night roster.
- Charlie Villanueva‘s strong play in camp means one of the 15 guaranteed contracts on the Mavs’ roster might be waived in order to make room for the big man. Sefko takes a look at the players who seemingly have the greatest chance of being cut before opening night rolls around.
- The Pelicans and Rockets squared off in a preseason matchup tonight, marking the first time Omer Asik faced his old team since being traded away in July. Although the big man was involved in trade rumors for much of the season and summer, Rockets coach Kevin McHale confessed he’ll miss having big man around this season, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
- Nate Duncan of Basketball Insiders examines the pros and cons of locking up Kawhi Leonard to a rookie scale extension versus waiting until restricted free agency to work out a new deal. The Basketball Insiders scribe concludes that it would be the in San Antonio’s best interest to wait until the summer of 2015 to re-sign the reigning Finals MVP.
And-Ones: Saric, Thompson, Carter-Williams
The father of lottery pick Dario Saric is upset about his son’s lack of playing time for Turkey’s Anadolu Efes and is threatening to end his son’s deal with the Euroleague team, David Pick of Eurobasket.com tweets. Predrag Saric said he’ll look for someone who would finance a buyout if his son, whose NBA rights belong to the Sixers, doesn’t start to see the floor soon, as he told Hrvoje Slišković of Jutarnji.hr, a outlet in Saric’s native Croatia. Dario agreed to a long-term contract with Efes shortly before the draft, one that was to keep him out of the NBA for at least this season and likely until 2016, but it’s not clear if Predrag’s agitation is a precursor to an early NBA jump, particularly since he’s advocated in the past for his son to remain in Europe. There’s more on the Sixers in our look around the league:
- There have been conflicting reports about whether Klay Thompson is asking for the maximum salary in an extension with the Warriors, but Thompson’s father says it’s indeed the max that he’s after. Mychal Thompson made his comments Monday on his own ESPNLosAngeles radio show (audio link), as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group transcribes.
- Mychal, a former Lakers player, also signaled that he’d like to see his son play for the Lakers at some point, Leung observes in the same piece.
- Sixers coach Brett Brown clarified to reporters that the team never gave a recovery timetable for Michael Carter-Williams, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Carter-Williams said yesterday that he was told when his shoulder surgery took place in May that he would be out six to nine months. Indeed, Philly’s release at the time stated that there was no timetable. Pompey and other reporters gave a two-to-four month estimate shortly after the surgery based on the way others have come back from the injury.
- Shawn Marion, who left Dallas for the Cavs this summer, still has a bitter taste in his mouth from the Mavs‘ decision to let go of Tyson Chandler soon after the team won the championship in 2011, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. “We didn’t give ourselves a chance to defend [our title],” Marion said.
Western Notes: Nash, Burke, Parsons
With Thunder star Kevin Durant out, we’re about to be treated to the full Russell Westbrook experience, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. OKC managed to get by without Westbrook at the start of the 2013/14 season – they were 22-8 over the first three and a half months – but it remains to be seen how they’ll do sans KD. More out of the West..
- Steve Nash was widely criticized for his admission earlier this year that he wouldn’t retire because he wanted the money left on his contract, but the Lakers guard isn’t interested in making a phony apology, writes Bill Oram of The Orange County Register. “It was an inflammatory statement in a way,” Nash said. “But I was being extremely truthful. That’s an important part of the business and we are businessmen. I’m not going to just give that money away.”
- The early returns are promising on Jazz point guard Trey Burke, writes Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. Burke won’t turn 22 until next month, but he’s showing the poise of a much older point guard.
- Mavs coach Rick Carlisle apologized to Chandler Parsons for publicly criticizing the team’s prized free-agent addition’s weight and conditioning after Friday night’s preseason game. “I have apologized to him and the entire team for this error in judgment. Not only is Chandler Parsons one of our best players, he is also one of our hardest working players and the kind of high character person we strive to bring to our city and franchise,” Carlisle wrote in a statement, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com.
And-Ones: TV Deal, Shved, Mavs, Rondo
The NBA’s new TV deal will bring the league $24.4 billion over the next nine years, but may also usher in a new labor fight, notes Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders. After the deal with ESPN and Turner was announced Monday, several of the league’s top players made it clear that they expect their fair share of the money. “The whole thing that went on with the last negotiation process was the owners [were] telling us that they were losing money.” said the Cavaliers‘ LeBron James. “There’s no way they can sit in front of us and tell us that right now after we continue to see teams selling for billions of dollars, being purchased for $200 million, [selling] for $550 [million], $750 [million], $2 billion.” While the players want to eliminate maximum contracts, owners like the Mavericks‘ Mark Cuban say the trade-off may be the end of guaranteed deals. Both the owners and players can opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement in 2017.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Alexey Shved expects a greater opportunity to prove himself in Philadelphia, reports Andy Greder of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Shved, who came to the Sixers from the Timberwolves in the three-team Kevin Love deal in August, hopes to rebound from a subpar 2013/14 season, notes Greder. “For me, it’s much better because I can show my potential in the game,” Shved said. Sixers coach Brett Brown called Shved a “skilled guard” and said the team is challenging him defensively and on his shot selection.
- The new TV deal will have an impact on free agents beginning next summer, writes Brian Robb of Boston.com. He says a potential $80MM salary cap by 2016/17 could make the Celtics more agreeable to Rajon Rondo‘s contract demands. The free agent is seeking a five-year max deal in excess of $100MM. He adds that other teams could be similarly motivated if Boston declines to meet Rondo’s demands.
- Offseason additions have made the Mavs a legitimate contender in the Western Conference, Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio writes in his season preview. Amico says that while Dallas didn’t bring in any superstars, the under-the-radar deals that landed Chandler Parsons, Jameer Nelson, Tyson Chandler, Raymond Felton and Al-Farouq Aminu will provide nice complements for Dirk Nowitzki. Although Amico has concerns about the Mavericks’ defense and bench scoring, he sees hope for “something special” this season in Dallas.
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Stephenson, Kapono, Lee
Lance Stephenson entered free agency anticipating the NBA signing a new TV deal, Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report writes. Stephenson was looking for a shorter deal that would allow him to have a shot at an even bigger payday down the line. The Pacers weren’t willing to agree to those terms, but the Mavericks were, notes Zwerling. Alberto Ebanks, Stephenson’s agent, confirmed reports that both sides had verbally committed to a two-year contract worth $20MM, but it was Dallas’ negotiations with Chandler Parsons that prevented the deal from being completed, Zwerling writes. “It was a domino effect,” Ebanks said. “Dallas did not think that Houston was going to let Parsons walk. Lance was very close to being a member of the Mavericks. When you’re a little further along into free agency, people are more in the position to pull the trigger when they see what they’re looking for.” It wound up being Charlotte that pulled the trigger on a deal.
Here’s more from out west:
- Jason Kapono is performing well in training camp and is in the running for the Warriors‘ final regular season roster spot, Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group reports. “He’s in great shape,” head coach Steve Kerr said of Kapono. “I’m convinced he has a place in this league. Whether it’s with us or not, we’ll see.”
- During a media day interview posted on NBA.com, David Lee was asked about the Warriors slow offseason that saw the team’s only notable additions be Shaun Livingston and Brandon Rush. Lee believes the roster continuity is good, adding, “I think it’s huge, yeah. I think first of all it’s a sign of things getting better. If you’re winning 25-30 games there’s going to be constant change. We’ve finally been very consistent these last couple years in winning games and I think that’s how players stick around and how teams stick around. I think using San Antonio as a model, when you have those core guys together year in and year out, I think the familiarity can really help, especially in pressure situations and close games.”
- Jamel McLean scored the game winning basket in Alba Berlin’s 94-93 victory over the Spurs Wednesday. This might not be the last the NBA hears from McLean, Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders opines. McLean worked out for the Kings last summer, and should warrant more attention from the league next offseason, Koutroupis notes.
Western Notes: Diaw, ‘Melo, Cuban, Blazers
Boris Diaw‘s contract with the Spurs has some creative additions included in it, Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com notes (Insider subscription required). Diaw’s deal begins at $7.5MM and decreases by $500K during the second and third years, ensuring San Antonio is paying the premium up front, when Diaw’s performance will be at its peak, notes Elhassan. The contract also includes up to $500K in annual bonuses if Diaw meets certain weight requirements throughout the season. Lastly, Elhassan notes that the final year of the deal has a guarantee date of July 15, 2017. This will give the Spurs flexibility to cut Diaw should his performance no longer befit his pay, and the later guarantee date means the Spurs can enter 2017 free agency without needing to make a decision on Diaw’s status. Diaw’s third year is partially guaranteed, notes Elhassan, and has a guarantee date of June 30th, 2016.
Here’s the latest from around the league:
- Carmelo Anthony visited with the Mavs shortly after they acquired former teammate Tyson Chandler, but Chandler tells Michael Lee of The Washington Post that he wasn’t aggressive in his attempts to recruit ‘Melo to Dallas. “It wasn’t strong,” Chandler said. “I didn’t ever think he was coming. I didn’t think Carmelo was ever leaving New York. I talked to him because it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t. But I never thought he was going anywhere. I thought if anywhere he was going it was to the Lakers. But when the Lakers didn’t have a strong enough roster to tempt him.”
- Darius Morris and Diante Garrett joined the Blazers this summer with the understanding that they’d have legitimate chances to making the opening-night roster even though they aren’t among the 15 on the team with fully guaranteed deals, The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman writes. The team would probably waive Victor Claver‘s guaranteed contract if it elected to keep Morris or Garrett, Freeman speculates. Garrett’s $30K partial guarantee gives him a slight edge over Morris, who has no guaranteed money.
- Mark Cuban raised the idea of eliminating guaranteed money from contracts in response to Kevin Durant‘s suggestion that the league abolish maximum salaries, but Durant isn’t on board with the Mavs owner’s idea, observes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
And-Ones: Butler, Caven, Jefferson, Macklin
Jimmy Butler is focusing on basketball rather than becoming a restricted free agent next summer, writes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. Friedell adds that Butler may seek more than the $9.7MM annual salary that former Bulls teammate Luol Deng received this offseason from the Heat. When the topic of the new TV deal was broached, Butler deflected the question, saying, “I don’t know nothing about a TV deal. I just know that it’s my contract year, and I got to play well and I want to help us win. That’s all that I know.” Butler will be one of the first players to sign a deal in the new cap era, Friedell notes.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The contracts of D.J. Mbenga (Knicks), Jason Kapono (Warriors), and Yuki Togashi (Mavs) are all non-guaranteed, minimum salary camp deals, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). Kapono’s deal is for one season, Pincus notes on Golden State’s salary page.
- One of Europe’s top prospects, Joonas Caven, a 6’11” big man from Finland, will enter the NBA D-League Draft this year, according to his agent K.C. Callero, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress reports (Twitter link). Caven is targeting the 2015 NBA Draft and the D-League will act as a showcase for his talents, notes Carchia.
- The Pelicans waived Vernon Macklin so that he could pursue an opportunity to play in Europe, John Reid of The Times-Picayune reports (Twitter link).
- One of the newest members of the Mavs, Richard Jefferson, accepted a veteran’s minimum deal this offseason, but that doesn’t mean he is willing to settle for a minimal role, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. MacMahon adds that Jefferson understands that he won’t be a starter but he is determined to find his niche on the team. “I like to believe myself to be an everyday contributor,” said Jefferson. “Whether it works out that way remains to be seen, but my job is just to stay ready.“
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
And-Ones: D-League, Bucks, Cuban, Faried
NBA teams can retain the D-League rights to as many as four of the players they cut at the end of the preseason, up from the previous limit of three, Hoops Rumors has learned. Still, if a team keeps the D-League rights to fewer than four such players, it can claim the D-League rights of someone it waives during the regular season, another new wrinkle that Gino Pilato of D-League Digest reported last month. Such decisions are among the many that teams will have to make around the end of the month, when they face rookie scale extension and option deadlines and must set their regular season rosters. Here’s more from around the NBA as those key dates approach.
- The Bucks have hired Deluxe Entertainment Services Group executive Peter Feigin as team president, the club announced. It appears as though he’ll handle business affairs for the Bucks while GM John Hammond will continue to run the team’s basketball operations.
- Mavs owner Mark Cuban downplayed the financial impact the league’s new TV deal will have on teams, but he suggested that the majority of owners won’t attempt to “cry poor” when they negotiate the next collective bargaining agreement with players. Jeff Caplan of NBA.com has the details, including Cuban’s prediction that most players won’t seek one-year deals this summer in an effort to time their free agencies with an influx of TV money in the summer of 2016.
- Kenneth Faried must continue his development and become a star to make his four-year, $50MM extension worthwhile for the Nuggets, argues Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post, who’s loath to bet against the power forward after a year of rapid growth.
Texas Notes: Parsons, Black, Cuban
We’re just three weeks away from opening night in the NBA, when the Mavs will square off against the Spurs in a matchup between two teams from the Lone Star State. San Antonio might look like a preseason favorite to take home a second consecutive title, but a fantastic offseason in Dallas should mean the Mavs have a shot themselves at making some serious noise in the West. Let’s have a look at the latest out of Texas:
- Earlier today, Marc Stein of ESPN.com rounded up the events that led to Chandler Parsons‘ departure from the Rockets this summer. The 25-year-old forward suited up against his former club tonight to kick off his career with the Mavs, but he said the game didn’t carry any extra meaning despite who he was facing, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle transcribes. “Just because it’s them, it’s a little different because I know those guys and it’s the first time we play against them,” said Parsons. “But at the end of the day, it’s a chance to see where we stand right now.”
- Rockets coach Kevin McHale won’t rush to determine which players will fit into the club’s regular rotation, Feigen writes in a separate piece. Reserves Ish Smith, Jeff Adrien, and Tarik Black have been particularly impressive, Feigen hears. Black is the only member of the group on a non-guaranteed pact, and Houston is already carrying the league max of 15 guaranteed deals. However, his solid performance in camp might speak well of Black’s chances to make an NBA club, even if it’s not in Houston.
- There have been rumblings that some superstar players might want maximum contracts taken out of the next CBA, and Mark Cuban suggests such an idea might not be out of the question if the players are willing to forfeit some guaranteed money and agree to allow contract structures similar to the ones found in the NFL. Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com has all the details.
Stein’s Latest: Parsons, Cavs, Mavs, Rockets
Rockets GM Daryl Morey and Mavs owner Mark Cuban downplay the intensity of their personal rivalry in interviews with Marc Stein of ESPN.com, even though both have made some incendiary statements about the other. Their teams have been involved in a tug-of-war over high-powered free agents in the past few summers, and the case of Chandler Parsons brought the rivalry into focus. Stein’s piece sheds light on many unreported aspects of Parsons’ free agency, and the entire piece is worth a read, particularly for Mavs and Rockets fans. We’ll share the most newsworthy tidbits here:
- The Cavs were the most fervent suitor of Parsons early in free agency this summer, viewing him as a plan B if LeBron James didn’t return, and Kyrie Irving, a friend of Parsons’, tried to recruit him to Cleveland, as Stein chronicles. The Mavs weren’t willing to wait on a definitive “no” from either LeBron or Carmelo Anthony before swooping in with their offer sheet, one that Parsons agreed to rather than sign a two-year max deal that the Rockets offered, Stein also reports.
- Parsons told Stein he would have re-signed with the Rockets for less early in free agency, and Stein hears he sought a four-year, $48MM deal from Houston, which was instead engaged in a pursuit of more established stars.
- Cuban was honest with Parsons about the risk that he was taking, as he explains to Stein. “I told Chandler from the start [of free agency]: ‘Do you want me to be brutally honest with you?'” Cuban said. “And he said yes. So I told him with as much granularity as I could that I think it’s a 10% chance at best that we could get ‘Melo, but we had to try. Then, we started hearing our percentage was getting higher, and I told Chandler that, too. But then, when we weren’t hearing a whole lot from the Melo camp, we knew we were pretty much out. So I told Chandler [on July 9th]: ‘I could end up being the dumbest idiot in NBA history, but even if LeBron comes back to us and says he’s choosing us, I’m committing to you.'”
- The Mavs were also high on Gordon Hayward and Eric Bledsoe, but they found Parsons the most obtainable of the three restricted free agents they wanted most, Stein writes.
- Morey pursued Kyle Lowry early in free agency, but cooled on him and turned his attention to Chris Bosh instead, as Stein explains. Bosh seemed on his way to the Rockets before he inked a five-year max deal with the Heat, and even Morey thought that he had Bosh within his clutches, as he admits to Stein. “Given our understanding of where things were,” Morey said, “we felt like we were 95 percent-plus to potentially having the best team in the league. There was nothing promised, but I did believe [Bosh] was coming in almost every scenario except the one that happened at the last minute [Miami trumping Houston’s offer with a five-year max].”
- The Rockets agreed to trade Jeremy Lin to the Lakers before receiving a commitment from Bosh because the Lakers refused to wait any longer and because a trade proposal from the Sixers instead would have cost multiple first-rounders instead of just one.
- The Rockets, like many teams, are turning their eyes to 2016, and they plan to let James Harden act as the primary recruiter for former teammate Kevin Durant, who can hit free agency that summer, Stein writes.
- Agent Dan Fegan proposed the structure of the three-year offer sheet that Parsons signed with the Mavs, and the three-year length, in particular, drew raves from Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace, who noted its contrast with the typical four-year offer sheet, as Stein passed along. Cavs GM David Griffin also expressed admiration for the deal, as he tells Stein. “The contract structure was extremely creative,” Griffin said. “I think it will be a significant moment in the way restricted free agency discussions are handled in the future.”