Northwest Notes: Timberwolves, Leuer, Nuggets
Here's a look at the latest out of the Northwest division..
- It appears that the Timberwolves may have missed out on shooting guard Courtney Lee and are now in pursuit of Jon Leuer, writes Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press. The Minnesota native was waived yesterday by the Rockets.
- Timberwolves forward Kevin Love says he is glad that he negotiated the option to leave in three years rather than securing a five-year max deal, writes Brian Murphy of the Pioneer Press. Love wants to see the club become a contender before he commits to Minnesota long term.
- Nuggets coach George Karl says that he is happy with all of the club's latest roster moves, writes Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post. The club is now left with a logjam in the frontcourt with JaVale McGee, Kenneth Faried, Al Harrington, Kosta Koufos, Timofey Mozgov, and Anthony Randolph in the mix, but Karl notes that it is preferable to being thin at the four and five.
Nuggets Re-Sign JaVale McGee
The Nuggets announced that they have re-signed free agent center JaVale McGee to a multiyear contract. The deal is for four years and worth $44MM, a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). The big man averaged 11.3 PPG, 7.8 RPG and 2.16 BPG in 61 games for the Nuggets and Wizards last season.
Denver acquired McGee from the Wizards as part of a three-team deal on March 15th that sent Nene to Washington. The athletic 24-year-old had a number of memorable mental lapses on the court during his time with the Wizards but appeared to turn a corner with the Nuggets.
“JaVale did a tremendous job for us after the trade,” Executive VP Masai Ujiri said in the release. “He worked hard on the court and did everything our coaches asked of him. Plus, he’s only 24 years old. With our coaching staff, he’s only going to get better.”
McGee turned in a pair of brilliant performances in the Nuggets' first-round series against the Lakers. The 7-footer put up 16 points and 15 rebounds Game 3 and followed that up with 21 points and 14 boards in Game 5.
Late last week, it was reported that the Nuggets offered McGee a five-year deal worth $50MM. The reported pact gives McGee a slightly higher average annual value while allowing him to re-enter the open market before his 29th birthday. The length and value of the deal is strikingly similar to the four-year, $43MM offer sheet that the Clippers matched last offseason in order to keep DeAndre Jordan away from the Warriors.
Ty Lawson Optimistic About Contract Extension
WEDNESDAY, 1:04pm: Lawson remains hopeful that a contract extension with the Nuggets will be finalized in the near future.
"We’ve already been negotiating and talking about it," Lawson told Lang Greene of HoopsWorld. "So my agent and the team will probably come to an agreement real soon.”
FRIDAY, 3:23pm: The Nuggets have yet to be linked to any outside free agent this summer, but it's been a busy month for the team nonetheless. Denver re-signed Andre Miller to a three-year deal, made a five-year offer to JaVale McGee, and could also be working on an extension for Ty Lawson. According to Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post, Lawson is optimistic that he and the Nuggets will finalize a long-term extension in "the next month or two" (Twitter link).
Free Agent Rumors: Timberwolves, Rush, Mills
A couple more notable names came off the free agent market this morning, when Kris Humphries landed a two-year deal from the Nets and Grant Hill agreed to sign with the Clippers. While a number of solid rotation players are still available, the market is rapidly thinning for teams in search of starters. As clubs continue to jockey to sign the remaining available players, we'll track many of today's free agent rumors right here:
- Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune lists who the Timberwolves will target with nearly $14MM in cap space if they lose out on Nicolas Batum, specifically highlighting Courtney Lee, Jordan Hill, and Greg Stiemsma.
- Marcus Thompson of the Contra Costa Times says that despite the delay on an official decision regarding Brandon Rush's future, the Warriors are still likely to retain him.
Earlier updates:
Odds & Ends: T-Wolves, Griffin, Nuggets, Hollins
- After tearing his left meniscus during a Team USA practise last Wednesday, Blake Griffin was forced to remove himself from the Olympic games. The Clippers forward had successful surgery today, and is still expected to be ready in time for training camp, tweets Yahoo! Sports columnist Marc J. Spears.
- The Nuggets are considering using their amnesty provision on forward Chris Andersen, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times. Andersen has two years and $9MM left on his deal.
Earlier updates:
Free Agent Rumors: Rush, McGee, Flynn, Landry
Hoops Rumors' list of 2012 restricted free agents has fewer than a dozen names left on it, and a couple more (Jeremy Lin, Nicolas Batum) are set to come off the board as soon as we get resolution on their respective offer sheets. With a number of players having signed new deals and a few others having become unrestricted, it might not be long before there are no restricted free agents left on the market. But for now, there are still a handful looking for work, and we have updates on a couple of them within today's round-up of free agent rumors….
Contract Details: Novak, Green, Miller, Thompson
While most players' contracts include annual raises, or at the very least, identical annual salaries, Steve Novak's new contract with the Knicks is a little different, as Mark Deeks of ShamSports explains (Twitter link). Novak's deal starts at a little over $4MM, dips to below $3.5MM by 2014/15, then rises back up to $3.75MM for 2015/16. The unusual structure of the deal provides the Knicks a small amount of savings in the years when the rest of the team's roster will get extremely expensive.
Deeks shared a number of other contract details from around the league, via Twitter, so let's round them up….
- The Spurs' deal with Danny Green is for three fully-guaranteed years and $11,287,500, with no options.
- Andre Miller will earn $5MM in each of the next two seasons with the Nuggets. The third year of his deal is partially guaranteed for $2MM of $4.625MM.
Earlier updates:
Nuggets Offer JaVale McGee Five-Year Deal
We haven't heard many JaVale McGee rumors this summer, but that doesn't mean that the seven-footer hasn't received any interest. According to Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post, the Nuggets have a five-year offer worth $50MM on the table for McGee. However, the center's representatives don't appear to be in a hurry to finalize a deal, and will continue to negotiate.
Nuggets Sign Evan Fournier
The Nuggets have officially signed first-round pick Evan Fournier to a rookie scale contract, according to a team release. While most first-round signings are merely a formality, Fournier's deal is notable since it means the 19-year-old guard will join the Nuggets immediately rather than continuing to play overseas.
As the 20th overall pick, Fournier is eligible to sign for a first-year salary of up to about $1.36MM.
Nuggets Re-Sign Andre Miller
JULY 11TH: The Nuggets have confirmed in a press release that the team has officially re-signed Miller.
JULY 1ST: The Nuggets have agreed to re-sign guard Andre Miller to a three-year deal, sources tell Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed.