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Western Notes: Mejri, Asik, Jordan, Suns

July 25th, 2015 at 9:43pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Mavericks have made a three-year offer to Tunisian center Salah Mejri, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The 7’1″ Mejri didn’t see much playing time last season with Real Madrid, but Dallas wants to find out if he can succeed at the NBA level. Mejri has the physical tools, according to David Pick of Eurobasket.com, who cites his energy, mobility and “giraffe length” (Twitter link). Mejri was recently released by Real Madrid and is reportedly leaning toward trying the NBA.

There’s more news from the Western Conference:

Back spasms will prevent the Pelicans‘ Omer Asik from competing for the Turkish team in Eurobasket 2015, according to John Reid of The Times Picayune. Even though he has to miss the September competition, there are no worries that the back problem will affect Asik when the Pelicans open camp. The center recently signed a five-year, $58MM deal to remain in New Orleans, although only the first four seasons are guaranteed at nearly $45MM.
The Clippers‘ DeAndre Jordan knows it will take time for the controversy surrounding his free agency change of heart to die down, writes Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. Jordan, who committed to the Mavericks before staying in Los Angeles, understands the hard feelings in Dallas. “It’s absolutely not behind me,” he said. “I think over time, it will be. Just, there are people making this out like I committed some huge crime, like I’m an enemy of the state.” Jordan said he chose the Clippers because he wants to be associated with just one team during his NBA career.
The Suns‘ offseason moves could make them a dark horse playoff contender in the West, according to Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders. The addition of Tyson Chandler gives the team a rim protector and a veteran leader, Taylor writes. Also, the trade that sent Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock and Danny Granger to the Pistons cleared more than $8MM in cap room and created more playing time for T.J. Warren and Archie Goodwin, who both were impressive in summer league play.

Central Notes: Cavs, Jackson, Hilliard

July 25th, 2015 at 10:49am CST by Will Joseph

The Cavs would benefit from bringing back unrestricted free agent J.R. Smith and the guard would benefit from a return to Cleveland after testing his luck in free agency, Bud Shaw of the Northeast Ohio Media Group opines. Smith, who is expected to meet with the Cavs soon, left $6.4MM on the table when he declined his player’s option with Cleveland in June. The reunion would make sense from a basketball standpoint, Shaw writes, because the Cavs would not need Smith to carry the load of a top scoring option and Smith is at his best off the bench and playing loose.

Here’s more from the Central Division:

Reggie Jackson‘s five-year, $80MM deal with the Pistons does not carry any options and will pay the guard $13.9MM in the first year and $18.1MM in the final year, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). It was recently reported that despite widespread criticism, Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy still likes the contract.
Darrun Hilliard, who the Pistons drafted at No. 38 and later officially signed to a three-year deal, received $600K guaranteed in the first year of his contract with Detroit with the second and third years of his deal at the minimum salary, Pincus tweets.
The final year of the two-year deal E’Twaun Moore signed in September with the Bulls became fully guaranteed on July 15th, Pincus tweets. The combo guard will be paid slightly more than $1MM this upcoming season. Moore’s production fell last season as he made 56 appearences and averaged only 2.7 points per game.

How Teams Are Using The Room Exception

July 24th, 2015 at 2:12pm CST by Chuck Myron

The NBA’s salary cap is a soft one, and that’s perhaps no better demonstrated than by the existence of the room exception. A form of the mid-level exception, it’s available for teams that have gone under the cap but spent their cap room. In other words, it’s essentially bonus cap room.

This year, the room exception is worth $2.814MM, and teams can use it to give two-year deals that include a 4.5% raise in the second season. So, the greatest total amount a player can receive using the room exception is $5,754,630. That’s not a lot, but it is significantly more than a two-year minimum-salary contract would entail, even for a veteran of 10 or more seasons.

The rising salary cap in the next few years will likely leave more teams under the cap each year, and thus, more teams with access to the room exception instead of the regular mid-level or taxpayer’s mid-level. That’s already the case for the majority of the league this summer. We noted Thursday that 13 teams stayed over the cap, so that leaves 17 teams that could use the room exception in 2015/16.

So far, only four teams have done so. Here’s a look at how they’ve used the room exception:

Bucks: Chris Copeland — Milwaukee has reportedly agreed to pay the forward $1.1MM this coming season, slightly more than his minimum salary. Thus, the Bucks, who’ve spent their cap space, would have to use part of the room exception for Copeland, leaving $1.714MM still available.
Pistons: Joel Anthony — The Pistons gave Anthony a two-year deal worth precisely $2.5MM each year, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. That leaves a $314K sliver of the exception that the Pistons can’t use in the offseason, since it’s less than the full season rookie minimum salary.
Raptors: Bismack Biyombo — Biyombo appears to have received the full value of the mid-level exception over two years, as Pincus indicates (Twitter links). Thus, Toronto is limited to paying no more than the minimum salary to outside free agents.
Spurs: Manu Ginobili — Ginobili’s contract is the same as Biyombo’s, according to Pincus, but the Spurs arrived at it by an unusual fashion, since they began the offseason with Ginobili’s Bird rights. They renounced those rights to clear cap room for LaMarcus Aldridge and others, circling back to Ginobili with the room exception once they used up their cap space, with Ginobili’s loyalty surely playing a key part. The Heat made a similar move with Udonis Haslem last summer. In any case, the renouncement doesn’t carry over now that Ginobili has re-signed, meaning that if Ginobili uses the player option in his deal to become a free agent next summer, the Spurs will again have his Bird rights, making it possible for him to sign a more lucrative deal with the team a year from now.

These are the other teams that could wind up using the room exception this season. Those with cap space still remaining are noted.

Celtics (cap space remaining)
Hawks
Jazz (cap space remaining)
Kings
Knicks
Lakers
Magic
Mavericks (cap space remaining)
Nuggets (cap space remaining)
Pacers (cap space remaining)
Sixers (cap space remaining)
Suns
Trail Blazers (cap space remaining)

Which remaining free agent do you think would be the strongest fit for a room exception deal, and which team should give it to him? Leave a comment to let us know.

Pacific Notes: Chandler, Young, Barnes

July 24th, 2015 at 12:51pm CST by Chuck Myron

Most teams chasing top-tier centers thought it better to go after the likes of LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan and Greg Monroe before circling back to Tyson Chandler as something of a fallback option, but the Suns found it wise to chase Chandler before pursuing Aldridge, as Rob Mahoney of SI.com examines. Chandler quickly committed to Phoenix, and he helped them become a finalist in the Aldridge sweepstakes.

“I think when you have a guy like that that you target, you go aggressively after him. And that’s what we decided to do with Tyson,” GM Ryan McDonough said to Mahoney. “It did help us that there were so many free agent big men on the market, especially high-level players — guys who have been All-Stars, All-NBA, and all that stuff. I think a few teams wanted to kind of talk to each of the guys and get a feel for them. Some of the players wanted to do visits with multiple teams, and be wined and dined a bit. Tyson really didn’t want any of that.”

There’s more from Phoenix amid our latest look around the Pacific Division:

The Suns seemingly made their three-player trade with the Pistons in an effort to clear cap room for Aldridge, but McDonough told Mahoney that the deal that sent out Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock and Danny Granger is one the team would have done regardless, citing a desire for more roster balance and future flexibility.
Nick Young feels more confident that he’ll begin the coming season with the Lakers after a recent meeting with GM Mitch Kupchak, reports Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. That jibes with a dispatch last week from Bill Oram of the Orange County Register, who heard that the Lakers had stopped looking for trade partners who’d take Young.
Harrison Barnes confirmed Thursday that he wants a long-term future with the Warriors, as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group details. He and the team reportedly share a mutual interest in a rookie scale extension. “I mean, we just won a championship,” Barnes said. “Of course I’d love to keep this group together for many years to come, you know what I’m saying? So that’s obvious.”

Pistons Sign Adonis Thomas For Camp

July 23rd, 2015 at 2:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 23RD, 2:29pm: The deal is official, the Pistons announced via press release.

JULY 16TH, 2:35pm: The Pistons will bring former Magic and Sixers power forward Adonis Thomas to training camp this fall, according to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press (All Twitter links). Thomas played for Detroit’s summer league team this month. Most camp invitees end up on minimum-salary contracts with little or no guaranteed money, and Ellis indicates that he’ll be fighting for a spot on the opening night roster.

Thomas averaged 8.6 points and 4.0 rebounds in 26.0 minutes per game for the summer Pistons. I identified him in my chat Wednesday as a summer leaguer to watch. He scored 14 points in 37 total minutes of regular season NBA action across six games split between Orlando and Philadelphia in the 2013/14 season. The Happy Walters client played for Detroit’s D-League affiliate last year. The 22-year-old who went undrafted out of the University of Memphis in 2013 is no stranger to NBA training camps, having joined the Hawks, Nets and Pacers during preseason the past two autumns.

The Pistons have contracts or agreements with 17 players, and No. 8 overall pick Stanley Johnson is in line to become the 18th once he signs his rookie scale contract. All but Thomas appear to have fully guaranteed arrangements, signaling that more movement on the way for Detroit before opening night.

Pistons Sign Stanley Johnson

July 22nd, 2015 at 12:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The Pistons have signed No. 8 overall pick Stanley Johnson, the team announced via press release. His contract will give him nearly $2.842MM this season and a total of $12.85MM over four years, assuming he signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale. Detroit held off on signing him while it used its cap space, as today’s move lifts Johnson’s cap hold by about $500K, but now the team appears finished with major free agent signings.

Johnson, a small forward from the University of Arizona, seemed a curious selection with small forward Justise Winslow still on the board, but coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said Johnson’s confidence stood out. Johnson attributed the choice to the toughness he displays on the court. The 19-year-old was by no means a stretch at No. 8, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranked him the eighth-best prospect in the draft. Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranked him 12th. Our Eddie Scarito had the Pistons taking Johnson with the eighth pick in the final version of the 2015 Hoops Rumors Mock Draft, though Winslow, who in real life slipped to the Heat at No. 10, had already been drafted in Eddie’s scenario.

Defense is Johnson’s strength, as Eddie noted in his prospect profile, though he displayed 37.1% three-point shooting this past season while averaging 13.8 points and 6.5 rebounds in 28.4 minutes per game. He shared a crowded frontcourt with fellow small forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, the No. 23 overall pick.

Do you think the Pistons made the right move to take Johnson over Winslow? Leave a comment to let us know.

Eastern Notes: Mejri, Dudley, Jackson, Ennis

July 22nd, 2015 at 11:47am CST by Chuck Myron

Tunisian center Salah Mejri, in whom the Cavaliers were reportedly interested this spring, has an offer from an NBA team, sources tell Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia (Twitter link). Real Madrid, his Spanish club, informed Mejri a few days ago that he would be released, as David Pick of Eurobasket.com reported (Twitter link). Mejri went undrafted in 2008, so no NBA team holds his rights, unlike center Sasha Kaun, Cleveland’s own draft-and-stash prospect who’s reportedly been in talks recently with GM David Griffin. Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Jared Dudley will miss approximately three or four months after undergoing surgery Tuesday to fix a herniated disk in his lower back, the Wizards announced. The team was aware that he was playing in pain last season before acquiring him via trade from the Bucks this month, according to Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post. The timetable means he stands to miss nearly a month of the regular season, though it also indicates he could return before opening night.
Top free agents don’t often choose to go to Detroit, so the Pistons had little choice than to pay top dollar to retain restricted free agent Reggie Jackson, argues Terry Foster of The Detroit News. Jackson’s five-year, $80MM deal is receiving widespread criticism, but coach/executive Stan Van Gundy thinks the conventional wisdom will change, as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press relays. “We’re excited about that and I think that also … that as we get two years down the road and look at what’s going on in this league and where the numbers are gonna go and the way we know that Reggie’s gonna play, we know this is going to be a bargain in this league,” Van Gundy said.
James Ennis struggled mightily in summer league, and the Heat would be on the hook for at least 50% of his salary this season if he remains on the roster through August 1st. However, the team has given him positive feedback and is paying for him to take part in a skill development camp in California, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Jackson suggests that’s a sign that the Heat will retain Ennis through the looming guarantee date. The Herald scribe speculates that Henry Walker, who’d earn a $100K partial guarantee if he sticks through that same August 1st date, is at greater risk to be let go, since the Heat held him out of summer league.

Southwest Notes: Lawson, McCallum, Pelicans

July 21st, 2015 at 9:58pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Rockets GM Daryl Morey isn’t shy about gambling, and he acknowledges that trading four players for troubled point guard Ty Lawson carries with it some potential pitfalls, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com writes. “I think when you’re trying to get the best team out of 30, you got to take risk all over the place,” Morey said. “Again, it’s a playing risk, injury risk, character risk. We feel Ty is someone we wanted to add to our team.”

With Houston badly in need of a playmaker at the point, Morey believes he has filled that need with Lawson, Watkins notes. “He’s one of the best playmakers in the league,” Morey continued. “If you look at the leaderboard for assists in the last few years or since he’s been in the league, he’s near the top. I think, as we saw, especially when [Harden] played a couple of teams last year, we struggle against teams that really load on James Harden, and we feel Ty will be a lot more difficult for teams to do that.”

Here’s more out of the Southwest Division:

Recent Spurs trade acquisition Ray McCallum‘s minimum salary of $947,276 became fully guaranteed when San Antonio didn’t waive him by the end of Monday, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders notes (Twitter link). It had been partially guaranteed for $200K, as the schedule of salary guarantee dates shows.
The Pelicans are looking into establishing their own D-League franchise, John Reid of The Times Picayune writes. New Orleans GM Dell Demps acknowledged the franchise’s interest in the D-League, but he didn’t know the exact time frame for the process, Reid adds. ”A couple of years ago, we did not do it because our players were so young and growing and we figured we just throw them into the fire,” Demps said. ”But that is the next step for us. We’re looking at some options right now on the Gulf Coast and in the state of Louisiana. So we’re looking into that. We have some plans to add our own D-League team.”
Danny Green surprised some when he elected to re-sign with the Spurs with a four-year, $45MM deal when numerous teams had expressed interest in his services, and he likely could have earned more elsewhere. But Green believes his annual salary is in line with his production, Dan McCarney of The San Antonio Express-News notes (Twitter links). “People keep saying that I took less. I think I took what I was worth,” said Green. Though, to get his full market value, Green would have likely had to go to a team like the Pistons or the Kings, who certainly don’t offer as good a chance to contend as San Antonio does, McCarney adds. The Pistons, Mavericks, Blazers, Knicks and the Kings, who’d reportedly made Green their top target, all had some degree of interest in the swingman.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Eastern Notes: Jackson, Embiid, Raptors

July 20th, 2015 at 6:39pm CST by Will Joseph

Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, while appearing on SI.com’s Chris Mannix’s radio show (Twitter link), said the fear of Reggie Jackson signing a one-year qualifying offer played a big role in the five-year max contract Detroit offered. The five-year, $80MM deal was officially announced Monday. Jackson said the offseason moves the Pistons made prior to his agreement — Detroit added Ersan Ilyasova, Marcus Morris, Stanley Johnson and Aron Baynes — reinforced his decision, Brendan Savage of MLive.com writes.

“I knew this was the place I wanted to be,” Jackson said. “But definitely some of the pieces that we signed, that made it that much more sweeter.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News said on radio station 94-WIP (relayed by CSNPhilly.com) that Joel Embiid‘s navicular bone in his right foot was re-broken. The news comes one month after the Sixers announced that Embiid had suffered a setback and a little more than a week after it was revealed the center needed another surgery.
Norman Powell, who the Raptors picked in the second round, will make $650,000 as a rookie, then $875,000 guaranteed in the second year and $1MM (not guaranteed) in the final year of a three-year contract, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
The Raptors used the room exception to sign Bismack Biyombo, Pincus reports (Twitter link).

Pistons Re-Sign Reggie Jackson

July 20th, 2015 at 4:57pm CST by Will Joseph

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

JULY 20TH 4:57pm: The deal is official, the team announced in a press release.

JULY 5TH, 8:57pm: The Pistons will re-sign restricted free agent guard Reggie Jackson to a five-year, $80MM deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). ESPN’s Chris Broussard tweets that the deal does not include any options.

The guard was at the Pistons’ summer league opener on Saturday and that turned out to be a good sign, as coach/executive Stan Van Gundy suspected it would be. Van Gundy and GM Jeff Bower negotiated the deal with Jackson’s agent, Aaron Mintz of CAA, over the past 48 hours at the Orlando summer league, reports Wojnarowski in a full story. Jackson hadn’t pursued offer sheets on the market this summer, Wojnarowski adds. The deal also means the Pistons are confident that they can play Jackson and Brandon Jennings together next season, both on and off the ball, NBA.com’s David Aldridge tweets.

In our Free Agent Stock Watch Series, Dana Gauruder wrote about how Jackson emerged as one of the league’s top free agent targets after he was traded from the Thunder to the Pistons, who immediately installed him as their starting point guard. Jackson turned down an offer worth more than $12MM a year in extension talks with the Thunder last year because he wanted out of Oklahoma City and he wanted to be a starter. With his new deal, Jackson is looked at as a cornerstone for the Pistons.