Warriors Waive Elgin Cook, Scott Wood
The Warriors reduced their training camp roster to 18 today by waiving Elgin Cook and Scott Wood, the team announced in a press release.
Both players received $50K guarantees to come to camp, and both were considered long shots to make Golden State’s talent-laden roster. They may get a chance to prove themselves with the Warriors’ D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz.
Cook signed with Golden State in September after being undrafted out of Oregon. A 6’6″ small forward, he averaged 14.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game as a senior with the Ducks, and played for the Kings’ team in summer league.
Durant Enjoying The Adjustment To The Warriors
- Kevin Durant is enjoying his adjustment to the Warriors‘ culture, Anthony Slater of the Bay Area News Group passes along. “I’m used to going into practice and having it a certain way,” Durant said. “These guys around here are super loose. But disciplined at the same time. It’s just a fun brand. They make basketball just even more fun than it was.”
Players Who Can Veto Trades
No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA, and they became even rarer this offseason, when several players with those clauses in their contracts either called it a career or signed new deals. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett, who all opted for retirement, had no-trade clauses last season, and so did Dwyane Wade, who doesn’t have the same protection on his new contract with the Bulls.
Nonethless, while the list of players with explicit no-trade clauses may be dwindling, there are still several players each year who have the ability to veto trades. A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year contract with an option clause – is given no-trade protection, and so is a player who signs an offer sheet and has that offer matched by his previous team. Players who accept qualifying offers after their rookie deals expire can also block deals, though no restricted free agents signed their QOs this year.
Taking into account that list of criteria, here are the players who must give their consent if their teams want to trade them during the 2016/17 league year:
No-trade clauses
- Carmelo Anthony (Knicks)
- LeBron James (Cavaliers): Received no-trade clause on his new contract with Cavs.
- Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks)
Players whose offer sheets were matched
- Allen Crabbe (Trail Blazers)
- Tyler Johnson (Heat)
Players accepting qualifying offers
- None
Players re-signing for one year (or two years including an option)
- Lou Amundson (Knicks) (waived)
- Elton Brand (Sixers) (retired)
- Ian Clark (Warriors)
- Alonzo Gee (Pelicans) (waived)
- Manu Ginobili (Spurs)
- Udonis Haslem (Heat)
- Kris Humphries (Hawks)
- Dahntay Jones (Cavaliers) (waived)
- James Jones (Cavaliers)
- James Michael McAdoo (Warriors)
- Steve Novak (Bucks)
- Marcus Thornton (Wizards)
- Beno Udrih (Pistons)
- Anderson Varejao (Warriors)
- Sasha Vujacic (Knicks)
- Metta World Peace (Lakers)
Information from Basketball Insiders and Yahoo! Sports was used in the creation of this post.
Warriors Don't Want Durant To Hold Back
- Despite the presence of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, the Warriors want Kevin Durant to feel comfortable and to not pass up open shots, Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com writes. “That’s why they wanted me here! They want me to come out here and be myself. I’m not going to play timid or not step on anyone’s toes, but I’m still going to be myself,” Durant said. “Nobody’s telling me I’m shooting too much. They want me to be myself out there.“
Kent Lacob New GM At Santa Cruz
- Kent Lacob is the new GM of the Warriors‘ D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz, the team announced in a press release. He joined the organization last year as Golden State’s coordinator of basketball operations.
Curry On 2017 Free Agency: “I Want To Be Here”
Along with the return to NBA players and coaches to training camps this week, we also got the return of players in contract years answering questions about their future plans. Of course, at this point in the league year, very few players – Rudy Gay excepted – will even hint that they may considering leaving their current teams next summer, and Stephen Curry provided no surprises on that front. Asked about his 2017 free agency, Curry replied, “I want to be here. That’s it” (Twitter link via ESPN’s Marc Stein).
The Warriors will head into the 2016/17 season as significant favorites, and if they can win another championship this season, there’s little doubt that Curry will continue his relationship with the franchise for the foreseeable future. Still, while it’s hard to imagine things not working out in Golden State upon Kevin Durant‘s arrival, there’s no guarantee it’ll be smooth sailing from now until next June, so we’ll have to wait to see how the year plays out.
As Stein tweets, Curry could be in line for a maximum-salary contract in the range of $165MM over five years next summer if he sticks with the Warriors. Those figures are based on the NBA’s most recent salary cap projection of $102MM for the 2017/18 league year, which would mean a starting salary of $28.8MM for players with Curry’s experience. If Curry were to sign with another team, his salary under a $102MM cap would max out at about $123MM over four years.
Curry ranked first in the initial installment of our 2017 free agent power rankings earlier this month, one spot ahead of his new Warriors teammate (Durant).
Contract Details For JaVale McGee, Phil Pressey
Teams signing players to training camp deals in the hopes that those players will eventually land with their D-League affiliates often incentivize their offers by including partial guarantees. That appears to be the case with the Warriors — as we noted earlier today, Golden State awarded $50K guarantees to Cameron Jones, Scott Wood, and Elgin Cook, who all seem like good bets to end up with Santa Cruz. Given how modest D-League salaries are, that extra guaranteed money can motivate players to accept D-League assignments rather than seeking more lucrative jobs overseas.
According to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), another Warriors camp invitee, Phil Pressey, also received a small guarantee, worth $35K. However, JaVale McGee‘s contract with the team is fully non-guaranteed. Of course, McGee seems more likely to earn a spot on Golden State’s regular-season roster than many of his fellow camp invitees, in which case he’d have an opportunity to earn his full $1.4MM+ salary.
Warriors Notes: West, Jones, Wood, Cook
- The Warriors‘ season-long recruitment of Kevin Durant last year was well-chronicled, and apparently Durant wasn’t the only free-agent-to-be Golden State pursued prior to July. According to David West, the Warriors reached out to his agent immediately after the Spurs were eliminated from the postseason by the Thunder in May (Twitter link via Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post).
- Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders provides some salary information for the Warriors, tweeting that Cameron Jones, Scott Wood, and Elgin Cook all received $50K guarantees on their one-year deals. There’s a good chance those three players end up with Golden State’s D-League affiliate.
Warriors Sign Scott Wood
The Warriors have signed unrestricted free agent Scott Wood, the team announced via press release. The details of the pact are not yet known, but it is almost assuredly a minimum salary training camp deal. The addition of Wood gives Golden State a roster count of 20, which is the preseason maximum.
The 26-year-old has spent the past three seasons overseas with the Spanish club UCAM Murcia. In 36 contests in Liga ACB play in 2015/16, the small forward averaged 8.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 20.2 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .444/.411/1.000. The closest Wood has gotten to the NBA was playing for the Clippers’ summer league squad in 2013/14 and 2014/15. He failed to impress, averaging 4.2 and 0.5 points respectively.
Wood went undrafted in 2013 after spending four seasons at North Carolina State. His career college numbers were 10.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists. His career NCAA shooting line was .423/.414/.883.
Warriors Rumors: S. Jackson, Durant, Arena
Veteran NBA swingman Stephen Jackson is still hoping to catch on with a team for training camp, but he won’t be rejoining his old club in Golden State. According to head coach Steve Kerr, the two sides talked in the summer about a potential deal, but it “ultimately didn’t pan out” (Twitter link via Anthony Slater of The Bay Area News Group).
Here’s more out of the Bay Area on the defending Western Conference champs:
- Stephen Curry called the decision to add Kevin Durant to the Warriors’ roster this summer a “no-brainer,” suggesting he’s not worried about how the two former MVPs will mesh in Golden State, writes Sam Amick of USA Today.
- Meanwhile, Kerr used similar language to describe a lower-profile offseason signing for the team, calling the decision to add JaVale McGee an easy one, per Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com. “He’s a talented guy,” Kerr said. “He’s athletic. He’s big. It’s a no-brainer.”
- Kerr also weighed in on several other topics, including most of the Warriors’ offseason moves, and Tim Kawakami of The San Jose Mercury News has the full transcript in two parts, so be sure to check those out.
- Appearing on HBO’s Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons, Durant addressed his decision to leave the Thunder for the Warriors, his relationship with Russell Westbrook, and his frustration with how his decision was covered. Erik Horne of The Oklahoman passes along several of Durant’s comments from the show.
- In a piece for The Mercury News, Anthony Slater speaks to Warriors president Rick Welts to get an update on the arena project being undertaken by the team in San Francisco. As Slater details, Welts hopes to break ground by early 2017 and have the arena ready for the start of the 2019/20 NBA season.