Western Rumors: Lawson, Davis, Jazz
New Nuggets coach Michael Malone said the club made a “good move” by dealing troubled point guard Ty Lawson to the Rockets last month, Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post reports. The Nuggets received a protected 2016 first-round pick, four players and cash for Lawson in the trade. “We wish Ty well. I mean that sincerely. That’s not just coach talk,” Malone said to Jhabvala. “We all wish him well. But it was a move that we felt was a good move for us. I hope he’s able to get his life in order, and when he does, we all know he’s a special player.” Malone added to Jhabvala that he had input on the deal. Lawson has completed his court-ordered 30-day stint in an alcohol rehabilitation program, according to Mark Berman of FOX26 Sports in Houston. Happy Walters, Lawson’s agent, told Berman via text message that Lawson was released on Monday afternoon. Lawson entered the program after being charged with two DUIs in seven months.
In other news around the Western Conference:
- Glen Davis expects to sign a contract by the end of the month, he told SI.com’s Maggie Gray (video link). Davis, one of the remaining unrestricted free agents on the market, said in the interview that he doesn’t want to play for a rebuilding club. “I want to go on a team that’s competing for a championship,” he said. The Clippers have shown interest in re-signing Davis.
- Treveon Graham’s three-year, minimum-salary contract with the Jazz has a $75K guarantee, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. The former VCU shooting guard signed with Utah on Monday.
Southwest Notes: Lawson, Aldridge, Anderson
After spending time with Ty Lawson, the Rockets‘ James Harden is confident that his new teammate can overcome his alcohol-related issues, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Lawson, who recently completed a 30-day rehab program in the wake of his second DUI of the year, was shipped from Denver to Houston last month in a five-player deal. Harden said he is “not at all” worried that Lawson’s alcohol problems will affect his play with the Rockets. “He’s out in California right now working out,” Harden said. “We’re happy to have him. He’s going to be a great addition to our team. I’ve been with him these last couple weeks. He’s more focused than ever. He has a great opportunity with a really good team to showcase his talents and help us with that push that we need.”
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- LaMarcus Aldridge has been studying film of the Spurs since he signed with San Antonio in July, tweets Dan McCarney of The San Antonio Express-News. Aldridge expects “a lot of easy shots” in the team’s offense.
- San Antonio’s Kyle Anderson, who spent most of his rookie season in the D-League, is trying to adjust to the pace of the NBA game, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. A 6’9″ swingman, Anderson shined in the summer league after appearing in just 33 games with the Spurs last season. “I do try to speed it up a little bit because that’s what they asked me for in San Antonio,” Anderson said, “but I just play my game, just be unselfish.”
- Bryce Dejean-Jones, who signed a partially guaranteed three-year deal with the Pelicans Friday, made an impression on the team during summer league, writes Scott Kushner of the Baton Rouge Advocate. “I think he’s showing us he can play in this league,” said New Orleans assistant coach Darren Erman. “He has a lot of NBA skills and he’s tough and has good size. I’ve really like what he’s been able to do for us.”
Reaction To Markieff Morris Trade Demand
The Suns are in a tough spot in the wake of a trade demand from Markieff Morris that confirmed a report from last week that he wants out of Phoenix. The deal that sent twin Marcus Morris to the Pistons last month is at the root of the discontent, but when, or if, the Suns trade the remaining Morris brother remains to be seen. Here’s the latest reaction and fallout to the news:
- The Suns don’t intend to cave to Markieff’s trade demand, for now, but he’s told people close to him that he won’t talk to Suns front office officials and will respond only in one-word answers to coach Jeff Hornacek if he remains on the team, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. Markieff would like to play with the Rockets or Raptors but doesn’t really have a preference as long as he’s no longer playing for the Suns, Gambadoro adds.
- Marcus told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer that he was upset the Suns would trade him without his consent after he and his brother took what Marcus called pay cuts on their extensions last fall, but SB Nation’s Tom Ziller argues that Markieff was the only one who took less than he was worth. Even so, the Morrises had to know that the Suns would put the interests of the team above their desire to stay together, Ziller opines.
- Andrew Joseph of The Arizona Republic makes a similar argument and points to behavior from the twins, both on an off the court, that’s been less than endearing to the team and its fans as part of the reason why the Suns traded Marcus last month.
- Markieff can be maddening to those around him, but he’s not unpopular in the locker room, as recent comments from Archie Goodwin indicate, writes Paula Boivin of The Arizona Republic. It’s incumbent upon the Suns to see if they can reconcile with the talented power forward, and with a pattern of players showing discontent on their way out of Phoenix, including Goran Dragic‘s acrimonius exit this past February, the team must fix what appears to be a communication problem, Boivin posits.
Western Notes: Morris, Brase, Arthur
Markieff Morris, who has reportedly cut off contact with the Suns and supposedly wants out of Phoenix in the wake of his twin brother, Marcus Morris, being dealt to the Pistons, is considered a good teammate, according to Phoenix guard Archie Goodwin, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic writes. In an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio on Monday, Goodwin said, “I can’t speak too much on that situation but I can say that the last couple years I’ve been with [him], Markieff is a great guy, one of my favorite guys to be around. He’s a really positive guy to me and for everybody else. He’s always been a team-first guy. I love Markieff. I love Marcus. I hope [Markieff] stays with us. I don’t know what’s going to happen with that situation. That’s why I really can’t speak on it. I really enjoy being around him and I wish the best for him whether he is with us or another team.” Coro recently chatted with Hoops Rumors about a number of topics regarding the Suns, and you can read the full interview here.
Here’s more out of the Western Conference:
- Matt Brase is expected to be named head coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets‘ NBA D-League affiliate, sources have informed Adam Johnson of D-League Digest. Brase is currently the director of player personnel for Houston, and was a former assistant coach for the Vipers, Johnson notes. Brase replaces former coach Nevada Smith, who spent two seasons with the Vipers and compiled an overall record of 60-46, including a mark of 27-23 last season, Johnson adds. The Rockets organization cut ties with Smith at the end of 2014/15.
- Samuel Dalembert received a fully guaranteed minimum salary on his one-year deal with the Mavericks, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Dallas will pay $947,276 and the league will cover the rest of the $1,499,187 tab for the 14-year vet. The club currently has 15 guaranteed contracts and 19 players overall, Pincus adds.
- The Nuggets used their room exception to re-sign Darrell Arthur to a two-year pact, and the forward’s deal includes a player option worth $2,940,630 for the 2016/17 season, Pincus tweets.
Chuck Myron and Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.
Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 8/10/2015
Rockets GM Daryl Morey has proven one of the canniest executives in the NBA over the years, but for now, he seems to have painted himself in a corner. The Rockets have yet to sign No. 32 overall pick Montrezl Harrell, and they haven’t re-signed Jason Terry, either, despite reports from last month that they were close to a deal. They renounced their Bird rights to Terry to accommodate the Ty Lawson trade, leaving them with only a $2,274,206 chunk of the mid-level exception to exceed the minimum salary for either, based on numbers from Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Yet using that exception for either would trigger a hard cap of $88.74MM, since they’ve already used nearly the entire $3.376MM amount that teams above the tax apron are limited to paying via the mid-level on K.J. McDaniels.
High second-round picks almost always command more than the minimum, as our list of draft pick signings from this year shows. Using the minimum salary exception for Harrell would also limit the Rockets to just two years in a contract for him, while three-year arrangements tend to be much more team-friendly for numerous cap-related reasons. Similarly, Terry likely proved capable of commanding more than the minimum, and he’s reportedly received an offer from the Pelicans, who have the $2.139MM biannual exception at their disposal.
So, our question today: What should the Rockets do with Harrell and Terry? Should they offer Harrell only the minimum and risk him taking the required one-year, minimum-salary offer that would allow him to hit free agency next year, as McDaniels did with the Sixers last year? Should they spend on Harrell and risk losing Terry to the Pelicans? Should they sign neither for more than the minimum and keep from triggering the hard cap in case they find an appealing trade later in the season?
Being mindful of our commenting policy, let us know in the comments section what you think the Rockets should do. We look forward to what you have to say!
Western Notes: Nuggets, Lawson, Davis
Though it may not be obvious because the Nuggets did not add free agents from outside the organization, the moves Denver GM Tim Connelly made this summer have the franchise pointed in the right direction, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. The Nuggets had a busy and productive summer, as Dempsey points out, because they committed to more than $100MM on extensions and re-signings of of Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Will Barton and Jameer Nelson. Dempsey writes that Denver made these moves, not only because it did not have the cap space to reel in big-name free agents, but also because it wanted to retain these players.
From a financial standpoint, the Nuggets, like many other teams, should be in position to offer a max contract next summer with the help of the salary cap rise, Dempsey writes. Furthermore, Dempsey adds, the return of Pete D’Alessandro to the front office bolsters the Nuggets in terms of a salary cap and business knowledge standpoint, improving any deficiencies the organization thought it may have had there.
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Ty Lawson, whom Houston acquired in a trade with the Nuggets, improves the Rockets despite not being a perfect fit, Tim Cato of SB Nation writes. Lawson does not exactly complement star James Harden because Lawson is a ball-dominant player and is not a great defender, Cato adds.
- Ed Davis, who signed a three-year contract with the Blazers, told Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders that he really wanted to stay with Lakers, but they could not agree on a deal (Twitter link).
Latest On Jason Terry
SUNDAY, 5:13pm: Terry is contemplating the Pelicans’ offer, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com tweets.
SATURDAY, 2:15pm: A team source has informed ESPN’s Calvin Watkins (on Twitter) that the Rockets aren’t sure if they are still in the mix for Terry.
FRIDAY, 5:21pm: Unrestricted free agent Jason Terry has received a contract offer from the Pelicans, Terry’s representatives tell Mark Berman of FOX 26 (Twitter link). The length and terms of the offer are not yet known, nor is Terry’s interest level in joining New Orleans. The Pelicans, who are over the cap, already have $75,617,845 in guaranteed salaries committed for next season to 12 players. That figure doesn’t include restricted free agent Norris Cole, who is reportedly entertaining the notion of signing his qualifying offer worth more than $3.037MM.
The offer from the Pelicans couldn’t be for more than the $2.139MM biannual exception, which is the most the team can give outside free agents after spending most of its mid-level exception on Dante Cunningham and Alonzo Gee. The Rockets would trigger an $88.74MM hard cap if they signed Terry for more than the minimum, and Houston already has a team salary of about $85.2MM, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Houston still hasn’t signed No. 32 overall pick Montrezl Harrell, adding another layer of complication.
Terry, 37, also has a contract offer on the table from the Rockets, though he considers the amount of Houston’s offer insufficient, Berman notes. Houston has renounced Terry’s Bird rights, according to the RealGM transactions log. This means the team is limited to inking him to a deal with a starting salary of no more than the roughly $2MM slice of the mid-level exception left over from the K.J. McDaniels signing, which also took up a portion of the mid-level. Terry and the Mavs reportedly had conversations about the guard returning to Dallas.
In 77 appearances for the Rockets last season Terry posted averages of 7.0 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 21.3 minutes per contest. His slash line was .422/.390/.813.
Southwest Notes: Lawson, Marjanovic, Mavs
The Southwest Division put five teams in the playoffs this past season and may well do so again in 2015/16, but it doesn’t receive much love from the ESPN Insider 5-on-5 crew, none of whom rank the Spurs or another Southwest team as the NBA’s best heading into the coming season. The Spurs and Rockets get one nomination each for No. 2, and while San Antonio gets plenty of support for No. 3, Bradford Doolittle and Ethan Sherwood Strauss both cite marquee free agent signing LaMarcus Aldridge‘s need for an adjustment period as one reason why they don’t rank the Spurs more highly. While we wait to see if the Spurs indeed encounter a measure of adversity, see more from around the Southwest here:
- The Rockets understand the risk involved in having traded for Ty Lawson, GM Daryl Morey tells Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com, who details Lawson’s string of alcohol-related brushes with the law and his potential path to recovery. “We take those very seriously,” Morey said of Lawson’s issues. “He’s had some very serious incidents in his past and in his recent past. We feel like he’s part of the Rockets family now and through our conversations with him we feel confident he’s getting the help he needs and he’s taken that step to say this is something he needs to do is improve on those areas.”
- The agent for Boban Marjanovic disputes the Spurs‘ claims that he’s not healthy enough to play for his national team this summer, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News details. The Serbian Basketball Federation is also fighting the decision that the Spurs made over concerns about ankle and foot problems for the center whom they signed last month. “After the game, he didn’t play basketball for 5 weeks,” agent Misko Raznatovic wrote on Twitter, referring to a June 28th contest (Twitter links). “Absolutely out of physical activity. And now is badly injured and can’t play! NO WAY!”
- The subtraction of Monta Ellis, the additions of Wesley Matthews, Deron Williams, John Jenkins and first-round pick Justin Anderson, and the retention of Charlie Villanueva set the Mavericks up to become more of an outside shooting team this coming season, as Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com examines.
And-Ones: Brooks, Contracts, Spurs
With the bulk of the offseason free agent signings in the rearview, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders examined whom he believes to be the best values amongst the free agent contracts doled out this Summer. The Cavs‘ re-signing LeBron James snagged the top spot, but Pincus also is a fan of the Celtics inking Amir Johnson, David West signing with the Spurs, and Brandan Wright‘s pact with the Grizzlies. The Basketball Insiders scribe notes that the best aspect of Johnson’s deal with Boston is that the second year is non-guaranteed, making him a potentially valuable trade chip next season.
Here’s more from around the league:
- MarShon Brooks, who last played in the NBA with the Lakers during the 2013/14 season, has signed with the Jiangsu Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link).
- The Rockets sent the Nuggets $440k as part of the trade for Ty Lawson, and the Thunder forked over $1.5MM to the Celtics as part of the trade for Perry Jones III, Pincus relays (Twitter links).
- Danny Green believes that the combination of the Spurs signing free agent LaMarcus Aldridge, and re-signing both Kawhi Leonard and Tim Duncan, will likely keep coach Gregg Popovich from retiring in the near future, Mike Monroe of The San Antonio Express News relays. “Without LaMarcus and Kawhi I think he’s out the door when Timmy [Duncan] leaves,” Green said. “Them being here I think extends his tenure just a little bit longer. Pop loves the game, obviously. I don’t see him stepping away fully. Even if he ever did he’d always be in the front office, or around or something.”
Southwest Notes: West, Marjanovic, Ndour
David West had kept the Spurs on his radar as a potential destination for years prior to his surprising decision to sign with San Antonio last month for the minimum salary, as the power forward told WRAL-FM in Raleigh, North Carolina (audio link; transcription via Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News).
“At this point, I just want to win games,” West said. “I feel like I’m in a position to where I had a choice to make. I just chose to give myself a chance to win. The Spurs have an unbelievable culture. I just want an opportunity to be in that system and experience it and see what comes of it.”
Among those who signed new deals this summer, West will see the third greatest decline in pay this coming season compared to last. See more on the Spurs amid the latest from the Southwest Division:
- The Serbian national team said it will challenge a decision the Spurs have made to pull newly signed center Boban Marjanovic out of international competition this summer, as the Serbian Basketball Federation announced and as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia translates. Serbia provided a copy of a letter the Spurs sent informing the national squad that it had exercised its right to unilaterally withdraw the center from international play because doctors had found a congenital defect in his feet that makes them more vulnerable to breaking. Marjanovic played on a broken foot this spring to help his club team, Red Star Belgrade, win the Serbian KLS League title, as David Pick recently chronicled for Bleacher Report.
- Grantland’s Zach Lowe is willing to cautiously bet that the Rockets won’t sign rookie scale extensions with either Terrence Jones or Donatas Motiejunas out the desire for greater cap flexibility next summer. Still, Lowe sees the extension candidacy of Jones as especially fascinating (Twitter link).
- Mavs signee Maurice Ndour has a partial guarantee worth $437K on his $874,636 salary for the 2016/17 season, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reveals (Twitter link).