Hoops Rumors Originals

NBA Teams That Can’t Offer More Than The Minimum

September 20th, 2017 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

At this point in the NBA offseason, most free agents who remain on the open market will have to settle for minimum salary contracts, if they receive an NBA offer at all.

There are some exceptions, particularly on the restricted free agent market, where Mason Plumlee just signed a three-year, $41MM deal with the Nuggets. Within the last week or two though, we’ve seen top remaining unrestricted free agents like Shabazz Muhammad, Tony Allen, and Andrew Bogut settle for minimum salary contracts.

That’s good news for several teams who have used all their available cap room and/or exceptions and can only offer minimum salary contracts for the rest of the 2017/18 league year. They won’t necessarily be at a disadvantage when it comes to signing free agents if those players aren’t being offered more than the minimum by teams with the means to do so.

In some cases though, an inability to offer more than the minimum can handicap a team. Dante Cunningham‘s free agent decision this week reflects this — according to multiple reports, the deal Cunningham agreed to with the Pelicans is actually worth $2.3MM, which is more than his minimum salary of $2.1MM. While we haven’t seen the official terms of Cunningham’s new contract yet, it’s possible that the $200K difference was one reason Cunningham chose New Orleans over a suitor like the Timberwolves, who could only offer the minimum.

Teams with the flexibility to offer more than the minimum could also benefit later in the NBA season. For instance, if Dwyane Wade negotiates a buyout with the Bulls and considers which team to join as a free agent, the fact that the Heat have retained their $4.328MM room exception could be a factor — it would allow Miami to make a stronger offer than the Cavs could.

With that in mind, here’s a breakdown of the teams that currently don’t have the ability to offer more than the minimum salary, which is $815,615 for a first-year player:

Boston Celtics
Detroit Pistons
Golden State Warriors
Houston Rockets: $350 of mid-level exception available
Los Angeles Clippers: $774,770 of mid-level exception available
Memphis Grizzlies: $1,440,385 of mid-level exception available, but will use at least $815,615 to sign Ivan Rabb.
Minnesota Timberwolves
New York Knicks
Oklahoma City Thunder

Meanwhile, the following teams have less than $3.29MM (the value of the bi-annual exception) to offer to free agents:

Cleveland Cavaliers: $2,549,143 of taxpayer mid-level exception available
Utah Jazz: $1,128,000 of room exception available
Washington Wizards: $1,902,000 of taxpayer mid-level exception available

Of course, just because a team has an exception available, that doesn’t mean the club will be eager to use it. Teams like the Bucks or Pelicans, for instance, still have various MLE and BAE exception money available, but their proximity to the luxury tax threshold will make them reluctant to offer more than the minimum salary to anyone the rest of the way.

For a full breakdown of how teams have used their mid-level, room, and bi-annual exceptions for the 2017/18 league year, be sure to check out our MLE tracker and BAE tracker.

2017 Offseason In Review: Dallas Mavericks

September 20th, 2017 at 12:09pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2017 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2017/18 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Dallas Mavericks.

Signings:

Dirk Nowitzki: Two years, $10MM. Second-year team option.
Nerlens Noel: One year, $4.188MM. Signed qualifying offer.
Jeff Withey: Two years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed ($350K).
Maxi Kleber: Two years, minimum salary. First year fully guaranteed.
Johnathan Motley: Two-way contract. Two years, $50K guaranteed in each season.

Camp invitees:

Brandon Ashley: One year, minimum salary. Exhibits nine and 10.
Gian Clavell: One year, minimum salary. Exhibits nine and 10.
P.J. Dozier: One year, minimum salary. Exhibits nine and 10.
Maalik Wayns: One year, minimum salary. Exhibits nine and 10.

Trades:

Acquired cash ($175K) from the Rockets for DeAndre Liggins.
Acquired cash from the Rockets for Jarrod Uthoff.
Acquired Josh McRoberts, cash ($5.1MM), and a 2023 second-round pick from the Heat in exchange for A.J. Hammons.

Draft picks:

1-9: Dennis Smith Jr. — Signed to rookie contract.

Departing players:

Nicolas Brussino (waived)
A.J. Hammons
DeAndre Liggins
Jarrod Uthoff

Salary cap situation:

Operating as an over-the-cap team with full mid-level ($8.406MM) and bi-annual ($3.29MM) exceptions available.
Can create up to approximately $18MM in cap room by renouncing exceptions and waiving non-guaranteed contracts.

Check out the Dallas Mavericks’ roster and depth chart at RosterResource.com.

Story of the summer:

The Mavericks finished with a losing record last season for the first time since the 1999/2000 campaign, and the team’s 33-49 mark, good for 11th place in the Western Conference, appeared to serve as a wake-up call.

Having been a perennial player for big-money free agents in recent years, the Mavericks sat out the summer fun in 2017, rightly recognizing that they weren’t just a player or two from title contention. When the Mavs won the championship in 2011, they were one of several teams that had a viable shot at a title, but the dominance of the present-day Warriors likely helped Mark Cuban and company realize that it would require more than just a little good fortune in the postseason to return to the NBA Finals.

Rebuilding certainly wasn’t the Mavs’ preference — the club had prioritized win-now moves over the last several years in the hopes of getting Dirk Nowitzki a shot at one last title. But even with the clock running out on Nowitzki’s playing career, the time was right for a rebuild in Dallas, as the team entered the offseason with a top-10 draft pick in hand for the first time in nearly two decades. With many of their conference rivals loading up to make a run at Golden State, the Mavs made a $5MM guarantee for Nowitzki their biggest free agent expenditure of the summer.

Key offseason losses:

The Mavericks’ transition from a veteran club with playoff aspirations to a younger, retooling squad began during the 2016/17 season, when the team jettisoned players like Andrew Bogut and Deron Williams. By the time the offseason arrived, there weren’t many expendable vets left to part ways with, so the Mavs’ list of departures is short and mostly inconsequential.

Dallas decided that DeAndre Liggins and Jarrod Uthoff wouldn’t be a part of the club’s future, sending them to the Rockets in a pair of late-June trades for cash considerations. Nicolas Brussino was also shown the door, with the Mavs waiving him rather than guaranteeing his 2017/18 salary. The club moved on from A.J. Hammons as well, including him in a trade with the Heat, a deal that allowed the Mavs to create a little more cap room in 2018 and 2019.

Key offseason additions:

Although the Mavericks didn’t go out and sign any major free agents, the team made sure to lock up its own key veterans, bringing back Nowitzki and Nerlens Noel on short-term deals. The Mavs entered the summer with a $25MM team option on Nowitzki and an $11MM cap hold on Noel, with the expectation that re-signing those two players would eat up most of the club’s cap room.

However, Nowitzki signed a modest two-year, $10MM contract that features a second-year team option, while Noel – having reportedly turned down a $70MM offer at the start of free agency – ultimately signed his one-year qualifying offer, worth less than $4.2MM.

The Mavs got a great 2017/18 rate on the duo, but the fact that Noel can become an unrestricted free agent next summer is somewhat troublesome. If Noel battles injuries and underperforms again in 2017/18, the risk will pay off for the Mavs, but if he has a breakout year in Dallas, the young center will get a whole lot more expensive in 2018 and the club won’t have the right of first refusal available to prevent him from signing elsewhere.

One player who will be a Mav for years to come – and who represents the team’s most significant offseason addition – is Dennis Smith Jr., the ninth overall pick in this year’s draft. Smith looked terrific in Summer League action and is gaining some early buzz as a Rookie of the Year favorite.

The Mavs have gone through a revolving door of players at the point guard spot in recent years, so the team is understandable thrilled to have a young, inexpensive potential star at the position for at least the next four years, and potentially much longer.

Outside of Smith, the Mavs’ additions were minor, with journeyman center Jeff Withey and German forward Maxi Kleber among those expected to stick with the regular season roster.

Outlook for 2017/18:

While the Mavs still have several veteran rotation players on their roster, the focus for 2017/18 should be on developing guys like Smith, Harrison Barnes, Dwight Powell, and perhaps Noel, if he remains in Dallas’ long-term plans.

With nearly every other Western Conference team eyeing the playoffs, the Mavs should be fine with landing on the lottery, and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see the club move a couple of its veterans – perhaps Wesley Matthews or J.J. Barea – before the trade deadline to help improve its lottery positioning.

Dallas is also in a great position to use its cap flexibility to its advantage. With the salary cap not increasing as rapidly as many teams expected, more clubs figure to be looking to dump bad contracts and excess salary in an effort to regain 2018 space (or to avoid the tax). Those teams will likely be willing to attach young players or draft picks to their negative assets to make a deal, and the Mavs should be ready to accommodate them, as they were on a smaller scale with the Heat and Josh McRoberts.

A non-playoff rebuilding year perhaps isn’t what Nowitzki had in mind for this stage in his career, but he’ll be an invaluable mentor to the Mavs’ young players. If the team can identify a handful of core pieces and puts itself in a position to add more of those pieces, the 2017/18 season should be considered a success.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

2017 NBA Contract Extension Tracker

September 19th, 2017 at 1:27pm CST by Luke Adams

So far this offseason, we’ve been keeping close tabs on the way teams are acquiring new players, tracking free agent signings, draft pick signings, draft-and-stash deals, two-way contracts, and trades. However, there’s another form of transaction worth monitoring: contract extensions.

Extensions, of course, don’t involve adding a new player to the roster. By extending a contract, a team ensures that a current player will remain locked up for multiple years to come. While it may not change the club’s outlook on the court, it can have a major impact on that team’s salary cap situation — in terms of total value, the extensions signed this summer by James Harden and John Wall rank among the largest new contracts.

While rookie scale extensions are the most common form of contract extension, no fourth-year player has signed a rookie scale extension so far this offseason. Andrew Wiggins is expected to do so soon though, and there are many other players eligible for new deals up until the October 16 deadline. It’s common for about six to eight players entering the final year of their respective rookie contracts to sign extensions before the October deadline, and I wouldn’t expect this year to be any different.

While they’re generally less common than rookie-scale extensions, veteran extensions are happening a little more frequently these days, with the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement expanding the rules for eligibility and creating some additional incentives for star players to sign new deals before they reach free agency. So far this offseason, each new contract extension signed has been a veteran extension.

Listed below are the players who have finalized contract extensions so far in the 2017/18 league year. This list, which can be found on the right-hand sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” on our desktop site (or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu) will be kept up to date throughout the offseason, and even into the ’17/18 season, if any veteran players ink an extension at that point.

Veteran extensions:

Russell Westbrook (Thunder): Five years, 35% maximum salary (story). Starts in 2018/19.
James Harden (Rockets): Four years, 35% maximum salary (story). Starts in 2019/20.
John Wall (Wizards): Four years, 35% maximum salary (story). Starts in 2019/20.
Robert Covington (Sixers): Four years, $60MM (story). Includes renegotiation for 2017/18. Extension starts in 2018/19.
LaMarcus Aldridge (Spurs): Two years, $50MM (story). Starts in 2019/20.
Norman Powell (Raptors): Four years, $41.965MM (story). Starts in 2018/19.
Josh Richardson (Heat): Four years, $41.965MM (story). Starts in 2018/19.

Rookie scale extensions:

Andrew Wiggins (Timberwolves): Five years, 25% maximum salary (story). Starts in 2018/19.
Joel Embiid (Sixers): Five years, 25% maximum salary (story). Starts in 2018/19. Includes injury protections.
Gary Harris (Nuggets): Four years, $74MM (story). Starts in 2018/19.
T.J. Warren (Suns): Four years, $47MM (story). Starts in 2018/19.
Check out our in-depth look at 2017’s rookie scale extensions for more details.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Community Shootaround: Remaining Free Agents

September 18th, 2017 at 9:36pm CST by Luke Adams

Tony Allen and Shabazz Muhammad agreed to new deals within the last week, while Dante Cunningham appears set to follow suit, further reducing the number of appealing players on the unrestricted free agent market. Meanwhile, on the restricted free agent front, we finally saw some movement this week, with Mason Plumlee and the Nuggets reaching an agreement on a multiyear contract.

As our list of 2017 free agents shows, there are still some intriguing players available, particularly on the restricted market, where Alex Len, JaMychal Green, and Nikola Mirotic remain unsigned. However, the Suns, Grizzlies, and Bulls all have plenty of flexibility to bring back their own RFAs, so those players are good bets to remain with their current teams, like Plumlee and Nerlens Noel did before them.

The unrestricted market features less upside — there are former first-round picks in their mid-20s out there, such as Trey Burke, Thomas Robinson, and Derrick Williams, but those guys appear to have settled into roles as back-end rotation players, barring a late and unexpected leap.

The most interesting names on the UFA market are veterans with a little more experience, including Deron Williams, Monta Ellis, and Aaron Brooks in the backcourt. Gerald Green, Matt Barnes, and Alan Anderson may also have some appeal for teams in need of a swingman. Up front, veteran centers like Andrew Bogut, Spencer Hawes, and Roy Hibbert are still looking for work [Update: Bogut has agreed to sign with the Lakers], while power forwards like David Lee and Kris Humphries also seek new homes.

We shouldn’t count on any of those players to be the difference between winning and losing a playoff series next spring, but some of them could still have a little value, particularly on low-risk, minimum salary contracts.

What do you think? Which of the remaining free agents would you invest in? Are there any teams that you think would be particularly good fits for any available FAs? Or do you think clubs would be better off passing on this group of players in favor of a G League call-up or an undrafted rookie?

Jump into the comment section below to share your thoughts on the remaining players from this year’s free agent class.

Hoops Rumors’ 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker

September 18th, 2017 at 3:08pm CST by Luke Adams

With NBA training camps around the corner, teams are finalizing their preseason rosters, and Hoops Rumors is here to help you keep track of which players signed new contracts this offseason. To that end, we present our Free Agent Tracker, a feature we’ve had each year since our inception in 2012. Using our tracker, you can quickly look up deals, sorting by team, years, salary, and a handful of other variables.

A few notes on the tracker:

Some of the information you’ll find in the tracker will reflect reported agreements, rather than finalized deals. As signings become official, we’ll continue to update and modify the data.
Similarly, contract years and dollars will be based on what’s been reported to date, so in many cases those amounts will be approximations rather than official figures. Listed salaries aren’t necessarily fully guaranteed either — deals marked with a † symbol are primarily non-guaranteed.
A restricted free agent who agrees to or signs an offer sheet will be included in the tracker, but the team won’t be specified until his original club matches or passes on the offer sheet, in order to avoid confusion.
Two-way contracts and draft pick signings aren’t included in the tracker.
Click on a player’s name for our full report on his deal.
If you’re viewing the tracker on mobile, be sure to turn your phone sideways to see more details.

Our 2017 Free Agent Tracker can be found anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” and it’s also under the “Tools” menu atop the desktop site. You can find it on the “Features” page in our mobile menu. It will be updated throughout the offseason, so be sure to check back for the latest info. If you have any corrections, please let us know right here.

Our lists of free agents by position/type and by team break down the players who have yet to reach contract agreements.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Five Key Lingering NBA Offseason Questions

September 17th, 2017 at 6:26pm CST by Luke Adams

NBA training camps are right around the corner, but several pieces of offseason business remain unsettled around the league. Here are some leftover offseason storylines to watch, with regular season openers just a month away:

1. Who will sign contract extensions before opening night?

Two maximum salary extension offers are reportedly on the table at the moment — the Thunder are ready to sign Russell Westbrook to a Designated Veteran Extension, and the Timberwolves are prepared to lock up Andrew Wiggins to a five-year rookie scale extension. Since max contracts don’t require much negotiating, they often get finalized fairly early in the offseason, so it’s somewhat surprising that Westbrook and Wiggins have yet to put pen to paper, but they still have a few more weeks to do so.

Outside of those two players, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on several other candidates for rookie scale extensions in the coming weeks. Fourth-year players like Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, Clint Capela, Gary Harris, Jusuf Nurkic, Marcus Smart, Zach LaVine, and Rodney Hood are eligible for new deals, and will be on track for restricted free agency in 2018 if they don’t re-up with their respective teams this year. Under the new CBA, the deadline for rookie scale extensions has been moved up to the day before opening night, so teams will have until October 16 to sign their extension-eligible players.

2. Who will be traded before opening night?

It appears increasingly likely that one of the summer’s primary subjects of trade speculation – Carmelo Anthony – will open training camp as a Knick. It should be fascinating to see if Anthony and the Knicks can bury the hatchet once camp begins, or if the two sides only become more motivated to get something done at that point.

Anthony is the most notable trade candidate out there, but other teams around the league figure to explore preseason deals after seeing their new-look rosters in action. Last year in September and October, for instance, the Bucks pulled off a pair of trades that had a major impact on their 2016/17 rotation, acquiring Michael Beasley from the Rockets and Tony Snell from the Bulls.

3. When – and where – will the remaining restricted free agents sign?

Four restricted free agents remain on the market, with Nikola Mirotic (Bulls), JaMychal Green (Grizzlies), Alex Len (Suns), and Mason Plumlee (Nuggets) all seeking out new deals. Given the lack of teams with cap room around the league, those players have limited leverage, and it’s possible that a couple of them will take the Nerlens Noel route and sign their one-year qualifying offers, hoping to cash in as unrestricted free agents in 2018.

October 1 looms as a key date for these restricted free agents — that’s the last day for an RFA to sign his qualifying offer, unless his team agrees to extend that deadline. If a player doesn’t sign his qualifying offer or work out a multiyear deal by October 1, he remains a restricted free agent, but no longer has that QO as a fallback option, further limiting his options.

[UPDATE: Plumlee has agreed to re-sign with the Nuggets.]

4. When – and where – will the remaining unsigned draft picks sign?

As our list of draft pick signings shows, there are two second-rounders whose 2017/18 outlook remains unclear. One is Grizzlies big man Ivan Rabb, the 35th overall pick, whose status may depend on what happens with restricted free agent JaMychal Green. If Green returns to Memphis, there may not be room on the roster this season for Rabb — the club already has 15 guaranteed salaries, and a Green signing would increase that total to 16. In that case, perhaps a deal overseas or a stint in the G League would be in Rabb’s future, though that outcome may not thrill his agent.

Meanwhile, the Rockets have yet to indicate a direction for 43rd overall pick Isaiah Hartenstein. International basketball reported David Pick suggested back in July (via Twitter) that Hartenstein is likely to start the year with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s G League affiliate, but there are a number of different ways that could happen. It remains to be seen whether the Rockets will sign Hartenstein to an NBA contract and assign him to the G League, ink him to a two-way contract (they have one open slot), or have him sign a straight G League contract.

5. Which players on rookie scale contracts will have third- or fourth-year team options declined?

This storyline figures to extend a couple weeks into the regular season, since NBA teams have until October 31 to decide whether to exercise or decline 2018/19 team options on rookie-scale players entering their second or third NBA seasons. We’ve listed those players here.

Of course, many of those will be no-brainers — D’Angelo Russell, Jamal Murray, and Karl-Anthony Towns aren’t about to have their options declined. But there are some trickier decisions worth keeping an eye on. For instance, will the Bulls pick up Cameron Payne‘s fourth-year option, guaranteeing his salary for the 2018/19 season? Considering they’re in rebuilding mode and gave up a considerable haul at the trade deadline to acquire Payne, the Bulls are probably a good bet to exercise that option. But it’s not a lock, given Payne’s injury history, not to mention how bad he looked down the stretch last season for the Bulls.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Weekly Mailbag: 9/11/17 – 9/17/17

September 17th, 2017 at 2:24pm CST by Arthur Hill

We have an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in this, our weekly mailbag feature. Have a question regarding player movement, the salary cap or the NBA draft? Drop us a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com.

Are the Spurs keeping LaMarcus Aldridge? Any trade rumors? — ROBZ, via Twitter

The rumors of an Aldridge deal heated up around the draft, when San Antonio reportedly had discussions with at least three teams about taking on the veteran big man. The Spurs were hoping to acquire a top five pick and trim salary to make a run at Chris Paul or another elite free agent, so obviously those motivations no longer exist. There have been persistent rumors that Aldridge is unhappy in San Antonio and would prefer a larger role in the offense like he had in Portland, so don’t count on him finishing his career with the Spurs. However, he will make nearly $21.5MM this year and has a player option worth more than $22.3MM for 2018/19, so any deal would require a major financial commitment. San Antonio may see how the season plays out, then revisit trade scenarios closer to the February deadline.

Do you think Carmelo Anthony will stay put for the whole season as he has reached out to his Knicks teamates in preparation for start of the season? Besides, he controls his situation as he has a no-trade clause in his contract and Houston hasn’t budged for his trade request. — Greg Dizon

It has been a game of chicken all summer with the Rockets, Knicks and Anthony, and we’re coming up on an important date as training camps open next week. The parties are as entrenched as ever, with Anthony determined to go to Houston, the Knicks wanting more than Ryan Anderson in return and the Rockets sticking by their offer with no luck in finding another team to make the deal work. Knicks management seems willing to bring Anthony into camp and hold onto him until a favorable offer emerges. We’ll see how that plays out, but New York is rebuilding and doesn’t want to be stuck with Anthony’s nearly $28MM salary for 2018/19. Every day he spends with the Knicks carries a risk of injury that would make that unavoidable.

Will Nikola Mirotic be back in Chicago? — Ernesto, via Twitter

Mirotic is among the latest victims to be stuck in restricted free agent limbo, and it looks like it might carry into the season, just as it did for Donatas Motiejunas last year. Mirotic skipped EuroBasket this year to concentrate on working out, and recently tweeted a photo of himself with 22 pounds of extra muscle. Mirotic was inconsistent during his three years in Chicago and was briefly relegated to the bench last season, so it’s not clear if the rebuilding Bulls even want him back. This will probably drag out until somebody makes him an offer; then the Bulls will have to decide if it’s worth matching.

Community Shootaround: New Playoff Teams

September 16th, 2017 at 6:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

Change is constant, especially in the NBA. It wasn’t long ago that the Bulls and Pacers seemed like perennial playoff contenders in the East and the Jazz were a rising power in the West.

Gordon Hayward single-handedly changed the fortunes in Utah when he left for greener pastures in Boston. Chicago reacted to a string of disappointing seasons by trading Jimmy Butler to Minnesota. And Indiana didn’t want to be left empty handed when Paul George reached free agency, so the All-Star forward was shipped to Oklahoma City.

But for every team on the decline, there are others on the rise. The bottom half of the Eastern playoff picture was already jumbled before the offseason started, and some young teams looked ready to challenge the traditional powers in the West.

With training camps about a week away, let’s examine some of last year’s non-playoff teams that might be ready for the postseason:

Sixers: It’s rare that a team has two Rookie of the Year candidates, but Philadelphia enters this season with the top picks in the last two drafts in Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz. Assuming good health, which has been an issue with the Sixers, both should have significant roles on a talented young team. Free agent additions J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson will bring some playoff experience, but Philly’s fortunes fall mainly on the health of Joel Embiid, who was limited to 31 games last season as team doctors were reluctant to take any chances with his surgically repaired right foot.
Hornets: Charlotte acquired Dwight Howard at a bargain price, and the former All-Star will try to rebuild his reputation as he joins his third team in three years. The Hornets needed a defensive anchor on an otherwise fine team that actually scored more points than it gave up a year ago, despite winning just 36 games. ESPN’s real plus-minus rating projects 44.1 wins and a fifth-place finish in the East for Charlotte.
Heat: Miami nearly rallied to make the playoffs after a horrible start to last season and was able to retain its key free agents. The Heat have a solid core with Goran Dragic, Dion Waiters, Hassan Whiteside, James Johnson and the return of Justise Winslow, and have an outside chance of signing Dwyane Wade once his buyout in Chicago is complete.
Nuggets: Denver was probably the best team that missed the playoffs last season, finishing one game behind Portland for the final spot in the West. Everyone knows about the talent of Nikola Jokic, but a series of shrewd drafts has given the Nuggets plenty of young talent to surround him with. The offseason signing of power forward Paul Millsap may be the addition Denver needed to challenge the West’s top teams.
Timberwolves: Few organizations had a better offseason than Minnesota, which now has veteran talent to team with Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Butler was the big addition, of course, as he upgrades the team on both offense and defense. Adding Jeff Teague, Taj Gibson and Jamal Crawford allowed the Wolves to take a huge step forward in rebuilding.
Pelicans: Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins never seemed to mesh after New Orleans acquired “Boogie” at the All-Star break, but with a full offseason and training camp to prepare, we’ll find out if that experiment can work. The Pelicans upgraded their depleted backcourt by signing Rajon Rondo and Ian Clark this summer, and recently added defensive force Tony Allen.

How many of these teams are playoff ready, and should some others be added to the list? Please share your thoughts in the space below.

Hoops Rumors Originals: 9/9/17 – 9/16/17

September 16th, 2017 at 1:56pm CST by Luke Adams

Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team compiles original content to complement our news feed. Here are our segments and features from the past seven days:

We’re hiring! Check out our job posting for details on what we’re looking for and how to apply.
We published the first installment of our 2018 NBA free agent power rankings, with LeBron James and Kevin Durant leading the way.
We compiled our early list of 2019 NBA free agents, which we’ll continue to keep updated until the summer of ’19 as players are released or sign new contracts.
Many players without fully guaranteed contracts will have all or part of their salaries guaranteed before the January 10 deadline. We put together a full breakdown of those guarantee dates.
Austin Kent examined a pair of candidates for rookie scale contract extensions this week, taking a closer look at Rockets big man Clint Capela and Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic.
Austin also recapped his Hoops Rumors Retro series, which will have more installments coming soon.
In his weekly mailbag, Arthur Hill discussed the Rockets, the Celtics, and Jabari Parker. If you have a question you want answered in this Sunday’s mailbag, be sure to submit your question to HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com.
There are 15 NBA teams with a two-way contract slot available. We identified those clubs in this story.
With training camps fast approaching, we shone a light on the five NBA teams only carrying 12 players with fully guaranteed contracts.
We polled Hoops Rumors readers on whether the Raptors, Wizards, Bucks, and Nuggets would go over or fall under their projected 2017/18 win totals. Voting on the Nuggets will close very shortly, so make your pick now!
Our Community Shootaround discussions this week focused on NBA coverage trends and the league’s new “statement” jerseys.
If you don’t have it already, be sure to download the Trade Rumors app for iOS/Android and give it a try.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Hoops Rumors Seeking Part-Time Writers

September 15th, 2017 at 10:30pm CST by Luke Adams

We’re looking to add part-time contributors to the Hoops Rumors writing team. The position pays on an hourly basis. Applicants must meet the following criteria:

Exceptional knowledge of all 30 NBA teams, with no discernible bias. We want you to be as comfortable writing about Fred VanVleet and Nicolas Brussino as you would be writing about LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
Knowledge of the salary cap, the collective bargaining agreement, and transaction-related concepts.
At least some college education.
Extensive writing experience, with professional experience and a background in journalism both preferred.
Keen understanding of journalistic principles, ethics, and procedures. Completion of basic college-level journalism classes is preferred.
Attention to detail — absolutely no spelling errors, especially for player and journalist names.
Ability to follow the site’s style and tone.
Ability to analyze articles and craft intelligent, well-written posts summing up the news in a few paragraphs. We need someone who can balance quick writing with thoughtful analysis. You must be able to add value to breaking news with your own insight, numbers, or links to other relevant articles.
Ability to use an RSS feed reader. Ability to use Twitter. Both of these are crucial.
Availability. You must have strong weeknight and weekend availability, along with the ability to work at least one or two regular shifts per week.
Flexibility. You must be available to work on short notice.

If you’re interested, email hoopsrumorsparttimers@gmail.com by Friday, September 22 (4:00pm central time) and take a couple paragraphs to explain why you qualify and stand out. Many will likely apply, so unfortunately we cannot respond to every applicant.

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