Mavs Notes: World Peace, Brand, Dalembert
Already today we've heard that the Mavericks remain in the hunt for Greg Oden and that they nearly landed Andre Iguodala before the free agent swingman agreed to join the Warriors. Here are a few more updates out of Dallas:
- Despite having the cap space necessary to make a bid, the Mavericks aren't interested in Metta World Peace, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. It sounds like that lack of interest is probably mutual, since World Peace's list of preferred destinations doesn't include Dallas.
- The Mavericks have renounced their rights to Chris Kaman and Elton Brand, according to RealGM.com's transactions log. That doesn't rule out a return for Brand, but it means the team would need to use cap space or the room exception to sign him, assuming he gets more than the minimum.
- While the Mavs continue to talk to Samuel Dalembert, they're also believed to be engaged in discussions on other potential frontcourt additions, says Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News, noting that both free agents and trade candidates are on the table.
- Within the same piece, Sefko quotes head coach Rick Carlisle, who refers to the team's roster-building process as "exciting."
Cavs No Longer Pursuing Greg Oden
10:55am: Oden is also looking at the Celtics and Bobcats, tweets Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports Florida.
9:17am: The Cavaliers have long been considered one of the frontrunners to sign Greg Oden, but after reaching an agreement with Andrew Bynum, Cleveland is no longer in the running for Oden, reports ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter).
Oden has local ties to Ohio, having attended Ohio State and rehabbed in Columbus, and the Cavs' cap space always made the team a logical suitor. However, it makes sense that Cleveland wouldn't have interest in bringing aboard both Bynum and Oden, since both centers are considered strong injury risks.
With the Cavs out of the hunt, the favorites for Oden include the Spurs and the Heat, along with the Mavs, who entered the picture recently. The former No. 1 pick reportedly plans to take his time making a decision, and may not sign until August.
Northwest Notes: Mozgov, Iggy, Splitter, Wolves
With the Thunder and Nuggets still looking strong, and the Timberwolves and Trail Blazers adding reinforcements, the Northwest could have four playoff contenders in 2013/14. Here's the latest out of the division:
- The Nuggets are getting "increasingly close" to an agreement with restricted free agent big man Timofey Mozgov, according to GM Tim Connelly (link via Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post).
- The Nuggets' failure to re-sign Andre Iguodala wasn't for lack of trying. Within a piece about the Warriors' newest acquisition, Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle says Iguodala passed on a front-loaded five-year, $60MM offer from the Nuggets, and nearly agreed to sign a lucrative deal with the Mavericks just an hour before reaching a deal with the Warriors.
- According to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com, the Trail Blazers reached an agreement with Tiago Splitter on a four-year, $36MM offer sheet. However, the team backed off when it became apparent that the Spurs would match.
- Now that the Timberwolves have traded Luke Ridnour, agents for free agent point guards will begin reaching out to the team, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Nate Robinson's camp figures to be among those in contact with the Wolves, though Wolfson doesn't see a fit there.
- The Jazz hope to use their remaining cap space to take on another contract and pick up another draft pick, as they did in their deal with the Warriors, tweets Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Mavs Target Samuel Dalembert, Brandan Wright
JULY 11th 11:49pm: Dalembert spent all day with the Mavs on Thursday, tweets ESPN's Marc Stein, and the sides are currently still in negotiations. Stein also tweets that he's told the newly signed Jose Calderon was part of the Mavs contingent attempting to woo Dalembert to Dallas.
JULY 10th 8:17pm: Dalembert will meet with the Mavs on Thursday in Dallas, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
JULY 10th 6:06pm: Wright texted Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com today to tell him that "Dallas is the clear-cut leader" for his services. Wright added that his agent, Jim Tanner, has begun to discuss a deal with the team.
JULY 10th 5:30pm: The Mavs are in the mix for Andrew Bynum, but he's not the only center who's drawing the team's attention. The team is in "serious discussions" with Brandan Wright, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, while Samuel Dalembert figures to be the Mavs' prime target should their pursuit of Bynum fall short, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Dalembert's upside clearly isn't what Bynum's is, but since it sounds like Bynum hasn't received any offers that include more than $6MM guaranteed, they could be in the same price range. Dalembert made $6,698,565 last season in the final year of a two-year, $13.7MM contract, but he's probably in line for a paycut after limited playing time with the Bucks.
It's not clear whether the Mavs' interest in Wright is tied to Bynum or Dalembert, but the team should be most familiar with him after he spent the past two seasons in Dallas. He put up career highs in points (8.5), rebounds (4.1), and minutes per game 18.0 this past season, prompting a handful of teams to join the Mavs as suitors, including the Hawks, Magic, Pistons, Raptors and Knicks. The Knicks have just a portion of the mini mid-level exception left, and Wright appears to be out of their price range, so it seems he'll command a nice raise from his $993K minimum salary of 2012/13.
Mavericks Sign Jose Calderon
JULY 11th: The Mavericks announced today, via press release, that they have officially signed Calderon.
JULY 5th: The Mavs and point guard Jose Calderon have agreed to a four-year deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com originally reported the two sides were closing in on the deal (Twitter link). Chris Broussard of ESPN.com hears that Calderon will get a total of $29MM (on Twitter). The move appears to be the team's first step along its "Plan B" after missing out on Dwight Howard.
Calderon is leaving the Pistons, who acquired him as part of the Rudy Gay trade in January. The team had sought to re-sign him, but his decision to go to Dallas was a matter of timing, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News (Twitter link). The deal is fully guaranteed, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com, who adds that Calderon seriously considered a pitch from the Kings as well. The veteran point guard also showed interest in the Lakers, though it's not clear whether L.A. reciprocated that interest.
The 31-year-old saw his assists per game fall to 7.1 this season after averaging close to nine per game the previous two years, but he remains one the league's canniest distributors. His 11.3 points per game in 2012/13 were the second most of his career, behind only the 12.8 PPG he notched in 2008/09.
Western Notes: Pekovic, Warriors, Blazers, Mavs
As teams continue to finalize trade and free agent agreements, and peruse the market for hidden value, let's round up a few links related to Western Conference clubs….
- Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link) still fully expects Nikola Pekovic to be back with the Timberwolves, and hears the big man isn't in contact with the Mavericks.
- The Warriors never called the Lakers to discuss a sign-and-trade for Dwight Howard, since they were never told they were a real contender, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. That aligns with comments owner Joe Lacob made to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News earlier today.
- Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey indicated today to media, including Mike Tokito of the Oregonian (Twitter link), that he prefers to keep an open roster spot during the season, so the team could waive Terrel Harris before November.
- According to Sam Amick of USA Today, the Grizzlies considered Brad Stevens before he was hired by the Celtics, and a third unknown team was interested in the former Butler coach as well (Twitter links).
- Having lost last season's D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, to a single-affiliation partnership with the Kings, the Jazz will now align with the Bakersfield Jam, tweets Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune.
- Jose Calderon doesn't believe the Mavericks necessarily need a star center to compete, as he told 103.3 FM in Dallas (link via Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com).
Mavs, Monta Ellis Closing In On Three-Year Deal
The Mavericks are nearing a three-year contract agreement with Monta Ellis that could be worth as much as $30MM, reports ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter). According to Stein, the deal is on course to be finalized later today.
It was just two days ago that GM Donnie Nelson told reporters that the Mavs likely wouldn't be too involved in the Ellis sweepstakes, but it appears that was just a smoke screen. The Kings, Hawks, and Bobcats were cited as other potential suitors for the free agent guard.
Ellis reportedly parted ways with longtime agent Jeff Fried recently, after being disappointed by the lack of interest he was receiving on the open market. Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports was expected to replace Fried as Ellis' rep, though players typically have to wait 15 days before hiring a new agent, so it's not clear if Fegan is negotiating with the Mavs.
If Dallas reaches an agreement with Ellis, the team should be able to create the room to squeeze his first-year salary under the cap, perhaps even without waiving their non-guaranteed players, Josh Akognon and Bernard James. However, it would likely only leave the Mavs with the $2.65MM room exception to sign a free agent big man.
This post was first published on July 12th at 2:24pm.
Mavericks Sign Gal Mekel
JULY 11TH: The Mavericks have officially signed Mekel, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 1ST: The Mavericks have reached a verbal agreement on a multiyear deal with Israeli point guard Gal Mekel, reports ESPN.com's Marc Stein. Once the July moratorium is lifted, Mekel will sign a guaranteed minimum-salary contract with the Mavs, according to Stein. Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com reports (via Twitter) that the pact will be for three years.
Stein reported a week ago that the Mavs were leading the charge among the NBA teams interested in Mekel, with the Raptors, Bucks, Hawks, Pacers, Grizzlies, and Jazz also registering some level of interest. At the time, Stein wrote that the 25-year-old had begun to convince NBA talent evaluators that he could immediately produce as a rotation player, especially after Pablo Prigioni successfully made the leap to the Association last season after a career overseas.
Mekel, a former Wichita State guard, averaged 13.3 PPG and 5.4 APG in Israel in 2012/13, leading Maccabi Haifa to a championship and earning league MVP honors for the second time in the last four years. For the Mavs, agreeing to add Mekel doesn't get in the way of a pursuit of Dwight Howard, since the point guard will be signing for the minimum.
Mavs Join Pursuit Of Greg Oden
THURSDAY, 10:25am: The Mavs will receive "legit consideration" from Oden, joining the Spurs, Heat, and Cavs as serious suitors, tweets ESPN.com's Marc Stein. Meanwhile, TNT's David Aldridge hears that Oden will take his time to make a decision and may not sign until sometime in August (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 10:23pm: The Mavs reached out to Greg Oden's camp this week, and are interested in signing the former No. 1 overall pick, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The team's pursuit of Oden predates Andrew Bynum's choice of the Cavs over Dallas and other suitors, Stein adds.
The Spurs and Heat appeared the frontrunners to land Oden as of last week, Stein reported, with the Cavs farther back among several teams chasing him. Cleveland may be out of the running now that Bynum is heading there, though plenty of competition remains. The Celtics and Grizzlies have also reportedly been involved since free agency began. A report on July 1st linked Oden to the Pacers and Kings, as well as the Mavs, so this isn't the first time we've heard about Dallas getting in the mix.
Odds & Ends: Johnson, Blair, Mavs, Deng, Jazz
Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars introduced free agent signee Josh Smith to the media today, but Dumars says he isn't done upgrading the roster, as Rod Beard of the Detroit News observes. The team also brought Rasheed Wallace aboard as an assistant coach this week, providing a link to its championship past. Here's more from the rest of the league as teams and players covet the Larry O'Brien trophy:
- Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution hears Ivan Johnson is drawing interest from several teams, including the Hawks (Twitter link). Atlanta declined to offer Johnson a qualifying offer this summer, but the team can still re-sign him as an unrestricted free agent. Johnson let go of agent Larry Williams last week.
- The Mavs have "poked around" free agent DeJuan Blair, as Jeff Caplan of NBA.com tweets, so it appears the club may have some level of interest. The team is focusing on its frontcourt, and GM Donnie Nelson doesn't think the Mavs will be bringing on any more guards, as Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes at the end of his roundup.
- Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com thinks the Mavs should have been more willing to take a risk on Andrew Bynum.
- An NBA GM from outside the Bulls organization tells Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com that Luol Deng could command between $11MM and $12MM on the open market next summer. Deng and the Bulls appear to be working toward an extension (Twitter link).
- The Jazz may have had "different conversations with Mo Williams" if the team hadn't wound up with Trey Burke on draft night, GM Dennis Lindsey told reporters today, including Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link).
- Royce White, who's headed to the Sixers via trade, intends to play for the team, but is still reluctant to make frequent flights, as he tells Randy Peterson of the Des Moines Register (link via USA Today).