Odds & Ends: Lee, SportVU, Ellis, Frye, Bynum
We took note earlier today of David Lee's comments to Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group about his worse-than-imagined hip injury, and in an updated version of the story, Thompson passes along more from the power forward. Lee said he didn't catch wind about a rumored swap involving him and LaMarcus Aldridge until the Warriors called him to say there was no deal, and Lee also chimes in on the emergence of Golden State as a free agent destination.
"We still have a long way to go," he said. "But if you looked at where we came from three years ago, some of the questions were, 'Why would you come here? They've had one playoff team in the last 150 years.' … Looking where we are now and having these conversations, its very exciting."
Here's more from the Association:
- The NBA will officially announce Thursday an agreement that will place STATS SportVU cameras in each arena, according to Grantland's Zach Lowe, who reported two weeks ago that a tentative agreement was in place. Lowe examines the technology's impact on referees, contract negotiations, the player's union and other facets of the game in his latest piece.
- Monta Ellis tells Cash Sirois of 1310 The Ticket in Dallas that he was "miserable" during the past several seasons and calls his opportunity with the Mavs "a breath of fresh air." (Twitter links).
- Insurance covered Channing Frye's $6MM salary for the Suns last year while he was out with an enlarged heart, notes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Frye, who's due $6.4MM this year, says he's ready to return to action and is awaiting team approval to do so.
- Both Andrew Bynum and the Cavs paint a sunny picture of his recovery from last year's knee injuries, but the team isn't setting a timetable for his return to action, as The Plain Dealer's Mary Schmitt Boyer observes.
- J.A. Adande of ESPN.com calls on incoming commissioner Adam Silver to take a tough stance on criminal behavior in the wake of legal issues for several players and Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer this offseason.
Western Rumors: Odom, Wolves, Kings, Lee, Mavs
Jordan Farmar tells Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com that he and other former teammates of Lamar Odom haven't heard back from the free agent forward amid ominous reports about his off-court issues. McMenamin also shares reflections on Odom from other current and former Lakers figures, and the scribe finishes with a touching personal anecdote about his interaction with the forward. Of course, Odom isn't the only NBA player dealing with trouble these days. About half of Hoops Rumors readers believe Michael Beasley is worth a look from their favorite teams, so perhaps there's a chance Odom can make it back to the NBA. Here's more from around the Western Conference:
- Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor tells Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link) that the club doesn't have any interest in bringing in a veteran free agent as a 15th man, preferring to keep that last roster spot open for a young player.
- A labor agreement for the construction of a new Kings arena in Sacramento was announced today, as expected, but the head of a group that opposes such agreements says they may donate to the same anti-arena petition effort that Seattle investor Chris Hansen funded. Ryan Lillis and Dale Kasler of The Sacramento Bee have the details.
- David Lee's offseason hip surgery revealed the injury he suffered in the playoffs was even worse than previously thought, but he's already back to 100% and working out with most of his Warriors teammates, as Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group reports.
- The Mavericks have hired Wizards scout Mike Wilson in a player personnel role, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
- We rounded up a few items from the Pacific Division earlier today.
Warriors Agree To Sign DeWayne Dedmon
The Warriors have reached an agreement with undrafted rookie DeWayne Dedmon, reports Sam Amick of USA Today (via Twitter). According to Amick, Dedmon will receive a partial guarantee on his deal with Golden State.
Dedmon, a 7'0" center, declared his intent for the draft this past spring, but wasn't one of the 60 players selected in June. After averaging 6.7 PPG and 7.0 RPG in his final year at USC, Dedmon ranked 74th among Chad Ford's list of 2013 prospects at ESPN.com. The 24-year-old worked out for a handful of teams in the weeks leading up to the draft, including the Trail Blazers, Suns, Lakers, Grizzlies, and Bucks.
The Warriors currently have 12 guaranteed contracts on their books, plus Seth Curry's non-guaranteed camp invite. Throw in partial guarantees for Dedmon and Kent Bazemore, and the club has 15 players lined up for camp, likely with more to come. Depending on how much money the team guarantees Dedmon, that commitment could give him the upper hand on earning a regular-season roster spot.
Odds & Ends: Sixers, Garrett, Butler, Iguodala
In his latest piece for HoopsWorld, Eric Pincus takes a look at the outstanding trade exceptions currently being held by NBA teams. Pincus' list matched up nearly perfectly with our own trade exception tracker, but added one we didn't have: Incredibly, the Sixers, despite being well below the league's minimum payroll threshold, have continued to function as an over-the-cap team this summer, with an assist from a trade exception obtained when the club send Jrue Holiday to New Orleans. That TPE is now worth $5,128,993, after a portion of it was used to absorb Tony Wroten's salary.
Check out Pincus' piece for more details on how the Sixers could be considered over the cap, and read on for a few more Thursday odds and ends:
- Former Suns guard Diante Garrett tweeted today that he'll "be with OKC this year." We haven't heard any confirmation from Oklahoma City beat writers or national reporters, but it looks as if Garrett will, at the very least, be in training camp with the Thunder.
- Sources tell Jake Pavorsky of Liberty Ballers that the Sixers may take a look at big man Micheal Eric in training camp this fall. Eric was in camp with the Cavaliers a year ago.
- Grantland's Zach Lowe takes an in-depth look at the Caron Butler swap between the Suns and Bucks, noting that Butler's expiring contract "is sexy [as a trade chip] in theory, but not in reality." I wrote earlier today about some of the cap and roster implications of the trade.
- Warriors GM Bob Myers spoke to Sean Deveney of the Sporting News about all the behind-the-scenes work it took to land Andre Iguodala, a task Myers says "looked futile" at some points.
Pacific Rumors: Dragic, Suns, Warriors, D’Antoni
The Clippers have figured prominently in NBA headlines today, as they've reached a deal with Antawn Jamison amid troubling news about Lamar Odom, the other free agent power forward they've been targeting. Still, they're not the only Pacific Division team making waves, as we detail:
- The addition of Eric Bledsoe has led to speculation that Goran Dragic could become a trade candidate, but coach Jeff Hornacek and GM Ryan McDonough are optimstic that Dragic can start alongside Bledsoe in the backcourt, notes Matt Petersen of Suns.com. Dragic is on board with the changes in Phoenix this summer, calling Bledsoe "a mini-LeBron James."
- San Francisco city documents show that the Warriors' plan to build a new arena there is months behind schedule, with related costs that have jumped by $50MM, John Coté of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The team disputes the financial estimates and sees the delays as routine, Coté adds. Coincidentally, the Warriors announced today that they've made a few improvements to Oracle Arena, a building they hope to leave for their new home in 2017.
- Tom Ziller of SBNation.com weighs which NBA head coaching job will be the most challenging in 2013/14, ultimately giving the nod to Mike D'Antoni with the Lakers.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Warriors Sign Seth Curry
7:10pm: The Warriors have officially confirmed the move, via the team website.
6:34pm: Curry has inked his contract with the Warriors, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).
9:17am: So far this summer, multiple pairs of brothers have headed in different directions after playing for the same team a year ago. The Sixers traded Jrue Holiday and cut Justin Holiday, while the Pacers saw both Tyler Hansbrough and Ben Hansbrough sign elsewhere in free agency.
However, it looks like one set of brothers will at least get a chance to play with one another during training camp, as the Warriors are expected to sign Seth Curry to a non-guaranteed contract today, according to Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter).
Although he battled injuries for most of the year, the younger Curry had a productive senior season for Duke in 2012/13, averaging 17.5 PPG and shooting 43.8% on three-pointers. According to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (via Twitter), the 23-year-old guard turned down an offer from an Italian club in favor of the Warriors' training camp invite. Curry suggested earlier this month that he'd received offers from the Timberwolves, Spurs, and Bobcats as well, but it makes sense that he'd choose the Warriors, given the presence of older brother Stephen Curry.
Golden State currently only has 13 players under contract, including 12 guaranteed deals, so if the former Blue Devil impresses in camp, there should be room for him on the regular-season roster. As we saw with the Sixers, Pacers, and even the Knicks before Chris Smith (J.R. Smith's brother) was injured, NBA clubs have shown a willingness to carry the siblings of established players at the back of the bench, so that should bode well for Curry's chances of making the team.
Odds & Ends: SportVU, NBPA, Harrellson, Warriors
Let's round up a few Friday odds and ends from around the Association….
- A tentative agreement has been reached to install data-tracking camera in each of the NBA's 29 arenas, to be used by all 30 teams, reports Grantland's Zach Lowe. The STATS LLC SportVU cameras had previously been used by half the league's teams, with many of the others holding off in hopes that the NBA would cover the cost (about $100K). The Association has apparently decided to do just that, sooner than many of those clubs expected, according to Lowe.
- The NBPA vote that made Chris Paul the union's new president was a close one, writes Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal. Prior to the announcement, few people knew that Paul, who was nominated by his peers, was even running for the position, according to Mullen.
- Gino Pilato of Ridiculous Upside examines a few of the best current free agents who played in the D-League last season, including Chris Douglas-Roberts, Lester Hudson, and Kris Joseph.
- Josh Harrellson may have been the 15th player added to the Pistons' roster, but he tells Keith Langlois of Pistons.com that he hopes to become more than the team's 15th man at the end of the bench.
- In his latest chat at HoopsWorld, Larry Coon addressed a few interesting topics, including Larry Sanders' extension with the Bucks and the question of how the poison pill provision would be applied to a player on a maximum-salary contract.
- Tom Ziller of SBNation.com hopes that future NBA commissioner Adam Silver takes after David Stern more than NFL boss Roger Goodell.
- The Warriors have named Casey Hill the head coach of their D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.
NBA GMs Discuss Offseason, CBA, Free Agency
Bob Myers, Dennis Lindsey, and Masai Ujiri are each relatively new to their current jobs, having taken over as their respective teams' general managers within the last 16 months. Myers, a former agent, now works in the Warriors front office, Lindsey is the GM of the Jazz, and Ujiri was hired earlier this summer as the head of basketball operations for the Raptors.
All three GMs have made interesting moves this offseason, with Myers and Lindsey completing a blockbuster three-team trade that sent multiple expiring contracts to Utah along with a few of Golden State's future draft picks. Meanwhile, Ujiri dealt former first overall pick Andrea Bargnani to the Knicks, and shored up Toronto's bench by signing Tyler Hansbrough and D.J. Augustin.
Myers, Lindsey, and Ujiri each spoke to Jimmy Spencer of Bleacher Report about the offseason and how the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement dictates what teams can and can't do. The entire piece is worth reading, but here are a few of the more interesting quotes from the three GMs:
Myers, on how team-building has changed within the last year or two:
"I think people are being more fiscally responsible and maybe a bit more conservative. Teams were not as aggressive on spending. The top-of-the-line free agents weren’t able to demand high-level compensation, though some of that middle class did get compensated as normal. Overall, though, I think a pretty decent portion was paid less than in the past."
Lindsey, on the effects of the league's new CBA:
"Whenever there is a new collective bargaining agreement in any league, teams, capologists or lawyers are trying to get their arms around the rules. Mechanically, what’s different on a micro level? On a macro level, certainly the tax system and aggressive penalties have come into play within teams’ long-term planning and short-term planning because of repeater tax issues. Many teams were anticipating a set of rules with the new CBA and did some real pre-CBA planning. It’s more than a one-year thing; several teams have planned for this."
Ujiri, on whether he feels like he knows the CBA inside and out:
"You try to study as much as you can. In my mind, I think I know it all, but you never do — that’s the truth. You keep trying to learn and learn, and to be honest, there is so much to learn. We also all try to figure out ways to gain advantages through the language of the CBA and going around it. I used to always ask [former Nuggets assistant GM] Pete D'Alessandro: 'Can we really do that? Call the NBA and ask, make sure we can really do that.' It always happens, we are all so happy in thinking we have gone around it, and all of the sudden you can’t."
Myers, on whether certain types of players were undervalued or overvalued this summer:
"It’s in the eye of the beholder like anything; this is an art as much as it is a science. I tried, personally, not to speculate and make knee-jerk reactions to free-agent signings. You don’t know, to be honest, whether it’s your own player or any player assigned to any team, how that contract is going to play out. I can tell you most of the time it’s going to be different than what you envisioned. Whether you are going to get a great deal or a less-than-great deal, you don’t know. There’s a human element to this. It’s hard to say what contracts are good or not; all you can do is make the best judgement call you can and try to be fiscally responsible."
Ognjen Kuzmic Expected To Join Warriors
A year after the Warriors selected Ognjen Kuzmic with the 52nd overall pick in the 2012 draft, the Bosnian big man is expected to come stateside. While there's been no confirmation yet from the Warriors or any Bay Area reporters, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando passes along an announcement from Unicaja Malaga, Kuzmic's team in Spain.
According to the statement, Kuzmic has decided to opt out of his contract with Unicaja Malaga in order to join the Warriors. It appears a deal with Golden State is not yet finalized, so we'll have to wait to see whether he receives any sort of guarantee from the team, or just a training camp invite. The Warriors currently have 12 guaranteed contracts on their books, plus Kent Bazemore's non-guaranteed deal.
Kuzmic, 23, averaged 6.9 PPG and 5.5 RPG in 27 Spanish League contests for FIATC Joventut Badalona in 2012/13.
NBA’s Largest Available Traded Player Exceptions
Earlier this month, the one-year anniversary of the Dwight Howard trade came and went without a ton of fanfare. By that point, Howard, Andre Iguodala, and Andrew Bynum, the three biggest names in last August's four-team blockbuster, had already hit free agency and signed with teams other than the ones that acquired them a year ago.
Perhaps the most notable detail relating to the one-year anniversary of the four-team swap was that the Magic let a mammoth traded player exception expire. Created by breaking down their side of the trade into several parts, the Magic held a TPE worth $17,816,880, and had a year to use it. However, by the time the calendar turned to August 11th this year, Orlando still hadn't touched that exception.
The fact that the Magic didn't use the exception isn't a total surprise. Orlando continues to pay a significant amount for a team that's in full-fledged rebuilding mode, so using that TPE to take on even more salary wasn't really a viable option unless the deal involved landing a core asset. Still, occasionally these sizable trade exceptions will come in handy — the Lakers gained an $8.9MM TPE when they sent Lamar Odom to the Mavs, then used that exception to acquire Steve Nash the following offseason.
While Orlando's massive Howard trade exception has expired, there are still a handful of teams around the league that hold large TPEs, which could be difference-makers later this offseason, at the 2014 trade deadline, or even next summer. Using our complete list of TPEs, here's a breakdown of the current top five (expiration date in parentheses):
- Golden State Warriors: $11,046,000 (7/10/2014)
- Boston Celtics: $10,275,136 (7/12/2014)
- Denver Nuggets: $9,868,632 (7/10/2014)
- Memphis Grizzlies: $7,489,453 (1/30/2014)
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $6,500,000 (7/11/2014)
Because a team can't use cap space and carry a trade exception at the same time, it makes sense that these five clubs all have team salaries that easily exceed the $58.68MM cap. In fact, all five teams are carrying at least $66MM-ish in guaranteed salary, with the Celtics, Grizzlies, and Thunder all flirting with the luxury tax threshold.
Given these teams' proximity to the tax, it may be unrealistic to expect any of them to take on a significant contract using their TPEs during the 2013/14 season. Still, it's not out of the realm of possibility. Here's one hypothetical scenario that involves two of the teams with big TPEs:
Let's say Darrell Arthur of the Nuggets suffers a season-ending injury a couple months into the 2013/14 campaign (of course, I hope to see Arthur play a full 82-game slate, but this is just an example). If Denver remains in contention and a team like the Celtics falls out of the hunt, perhaps the Nuggets could bolster their frontcourt by sending Arthur to Boston in exchange for Brandon Bass.
The two players' salaries don't match up using standard trade rules, but Bass ($6.45MM) would fit into Denver's TPE, while Arthur ($3.23MM) would fit into Boston's. Both teams would have some TPE money left over, and would create new exceptions worth Arthur's salary (for Denver) and Bass' salary (for Boston). The Nuggets could add a rotation piece without going into the tax, while the C's could reduce costs, clear some long-term salary, and not have to worry about their place in the 2013/14 standings. Everybody wins.
As I noted, that situation is purely hypothetical. Nonetheless, it's one example of how these teams could utilize their sizable trade exceptions in the coming year. Like Orlando's $17.8MM TPE, most of these will probably expire without being used, but they're worth keeping an eye on all the same.
For a more in-depth explanation of how traded player exceptions work, be sure to check out our Hoops Rumors glossary entry.