Rockets Re-Sign Patrick Beverley
JULY 9TH, 8:12pm: The deal is official, the Rockets announced.
JULY 3RD, 6:14pm: The Rockets and restricted free agent Patrick Beverley have reached an agreement that will see the point guard return to Houston, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). The deal is for four years and $23MM, Wojnarowski relays. The final year of the contract will pay Beverley $5MM, and is non-guaranteed, Mark Berman of FOX 26 tweets.
Beverley appeared in 56 games for the Rockets last season, 55 as a starter. His numbers on the year were 10.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.4 assists, with a slash line of .383/.356/.750. His career numbers since being selected with the 42nd overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft are 8.9 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 3.0 APG.
The 26-year-old was reported to be nearing a deal with the Kings by Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders earlier this evening. The Mavericks, Knicks, Bulls, and Cavaliers were also interested in signing Beverley.
Kings, Mavs Interested In Josh Smith
The Kings have a “very strong” interest in Josh Smith, league sources tell Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee (Twitter links), and the Mavs are in play for him, too, as Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops hears (Twitter link). Still, while six teams have shown interest, “nothing of substance” is in the works for Smith, a source tells Jake Fischer of SI Now (Twitter link), whose report came after the Mavs news but before the report on the Kings. Fischer last week reported that the Kings would soon begin talks with the client of Brian Dyke and Wallace Prather.
Smith has reportedly held mutual interest in re-signing with the Rockets, and he enjoys playing for Kevin McHale, notes Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Still, the Rockets have only Non-Bird rights on the forward who signed at midseason, meaning they can only give him $2,492,400, a 20% raise on the $2.077MM he saw in 2014/15, without clearing cap space or raiding the mid-level exception.
The Clippers and Smith also reportedly had mutual interest, though that surfaced before DeAndre Jordan flipped from his decision to sign with the Mavs to recommit to the Clippers instead. Thus, the Clippers only have the minimum salary to offer. The Mavs have loads of cap room that they were to spend on Jordan, while the Kings have roughly $7MM in cap space.
Rockets Sign Sam Dekker
The Rockets have signed Sam Dekker, this year’s No. 18 overall pick, the Priority Sports agency tweets (hat tip to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle). Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston says agent Mark Bartelstein told him the sides have a verbal agreement in place (Twitter link), and the team has yet to make any official announcement. Regardless of whether Dekker has actually put pen to paper, the signing is likely a mere formality, as the rookie scale usually removes any substantive negotiation between teams and their first-round picks. Dekker will make more than $1.646MM this year in the first year of a four-year deal, presuming he receives the standard 120% of the rookie scale.
Dekker’s stock surged amid Wisconsin’s run to the national championship game in the NCAA Tournament. The small forward is dynamic, with high basketball IQ and toughness, though he’s not a standout in any particular area, and his outside shooting could use some work, as Dana Gauruder of Hoops Rumors wrote in his prospect profile.
Houston took Dekker largely within his projected range. Chad Ford of ESPN.com had him as the 16th-best prospect, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranked him 21st. Our Eddie Scarito predicted he’d go 17th in the final Hoops Rumors Mock Draft.
The Rockets will likely remain over the cap after missing out on star targets LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Love, so the Dekker signing, which will lift his cap hold by roughly $300K, is unlikely to affect the team’s flexibility.
Southwest Notes: Villanueva, Udrih, Conley
It’s a good bet that Charlie Villanueva will end up back with the Mavericks on a deal for the minimum salary, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. MacMahon wrote last month that the Mavs would welcome him back if he were to play for that amount, and Villanueva has spoken of his desire to play for coach Rick Carlisle again. There’s plenty more from the Southwest Division, where all five teams made the playoffs this past season even before the summer’s two most talked–about free agents agreed to go there:
- Beno Udrih‘s full salary of more than $2.17MM is guaranteed since he remained on the Grizzlies roster through Sunday. It had been partially guaranteed for only $923K, as the schedule of salary guarantee dates shows.
- Mike Conley triggered a $200K bonus because the Grizzlies went to the second round of the playoffs this past season, so his cap figure for this coming season goes up by that amount, bringing it to $9,588,426, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
- Rockets draft-and-stash point guard Sergio Llull has signed an extension with Real Madrid of Spain that runs until 2021, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Llull rejected reported overtures from Houston to join the NBA for this coming season, though his new deal does include a lower NBA buyout.
- The Mavs will soon announce the hiring of Nick Van Exel as the team’s D-League coach, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
- Pelicans free agent Jimmer Fredette is mulling an offer from Italy’s Olimpia Milano, sources tell Paola De Persis of Sportando. Fredette would nonetheless prefer to stay in the NBA, De Persis notes.
Western Notes: McDaniels, Boozer, Suns
The Rockets‘ plan is to match any offer sheet that K.J. McDaniels signs and potentially look at trade opportunities, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The shooting guard previously expressed his desire to remain in Houston.
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- In addition to making a push to sign David West, the Spurs have expressed interest in Carlos Boozer as they look to fill out their bench, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com tweets.
- The Suns missed out on signing LaMarcus Aldridge and Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic examines the team’s remaining options to add talent this offseason. Coro believes West could be a fit, but he doubts West will see the team as the contender he is reportedly seeking.
- It is unlikely that the Suns pursue forward Josh Smith, Coro adds in the same piece. Coro names Andrea Bargnani, Amar’e Stoudemire and Jordan Hill among possible frontcourt players that Phoenix could target.
LaMarcus Aldridge Rumors: Friday
LaMarcus Aldridge checked in third when we did our last Free Agent Power Rankings in June, but he seems to have the league on a string now with LeBron James almost assuredly going back to Cleveland and Kawhi Leonard already reportedly committed to the Spurs. Aldridge reportedly met with the Lakers for a second time and the Heat for the first time Thursday, when he apparently canceled a meeting with the Knicks. We’ll use this post to track the client of Arn Tellem and Thaddeus Foucher today, with any new information added to the top:
- The Spurs and the Suns have solidified themselves as the favorites to land Aldridge, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets.
11:45am update:
- Spurs president/coach Gregg Popovich would like to have another meeting with Aldridge, and the team is confident that the power forward will choose San Antonio, as John Canzano of The Oregonian hears (Twitter links).
11:00am update:
- Rival executives believe that Riley told Aldridge that he should sign a short-term deal if he goes elsewhere with the idea that the Heat would come calling again next summer, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com.
9:51am update:
- The Spurs are in the lead for Aldridge, with the Suns second and the Mavs a “darkhorse of sorts” in third, according to Sam Amick of USA Today. The Lakers, Rockets and Raptors don’t seem to have moved any closer, Amick adds, having heard that the Heat‘s meeting with Aldridge was “much ado about nothing” other than a nice dinner.
8:45am update:
- Aldridge is genuinely torn and will need some more time to decide, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link). The Spurs and Suns are the front-runners, the Blazers are trying for a Hail Mary, the Mavericks are still in pursuit, the Lakers are flailing and the Knicks are in the green room, as Shelburne succinctly puts it (on Twitter).
- The meeting between Aldridge and Heat president Pat Riley went longer than expected Thursday, but the Texas teams (presumably meaning the Spurs and Mavs, though he’s met with the Rockets) remain out front for him, reports Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald (Twitter link).
- The Lakers apologized to Aldridge for not giving him more of a basketball focus in their initial meeting, which was more than an hour old before GM Mitch Kupchak and coach Byron Scott spoke, according to Shelburne (Twitter link).
- The presentation the Lakers made was a good one, but the team doesn’t believe Aldridge was wooed by it, sources tell Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
Latest On Patrick Beverley
FRIDAY, 5:26pm: The talks between the Kings and Beverley are progressing, and the two sides could be nearing a deal, Kennedy tweets.
1:05pm: New York is ramping up its pursuit of the point guard, and the sides have been talking a lot, Kennedy reports (on Twitter).
12:26pm: The Cavs contacted Patrick Beverley, Kennedy reports (on Twitter), while the Kings, Mavs and Knicks have all called him, too, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 12:07am: The Knicks have “major interest” and Beverley is interested in them, too, a source tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.
TUESDAY, 1:43pm: The Mavericks, Knicks, Bulls, Cavs will challenge the Rockets in their efforts to re-sign Patrick Beverley, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Kennedy confirms that Houston continues to have interest in the point guard, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote this spring that the Rockets were determined to have him come back.
The Rockets have the right to match all offers after having extended a qualifying offer today worth slightly more than $2.725MM, according to fellow Basketball Insiders scribe Eric Pincus (on Twitter). That was largely a procedural move, as the Bill Duffy client appears poised to command much more after having played for just the minimum salary the past few seasons in Houston.
The Bulls and Cavs would appear to be long shots, since they’re both poised to go into tax territory, likely limiting them to the $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level exception. The Mavs and Knicks can clear max-level cap room, though Beverley probably isn’t their first priority. The Rockets are in the mix for marquee names, as usual, but GM Daryl Morey thinks the team will most likely remain above the cap and focus on re-signing its own free agents. Even if it doesn’t, it would be relatively easy to retain Beverley’s Bird rights, since his cap hold is equivalent to his qualifying offer.
Latest On Corey Brewer
12:46pm: The Pistons, too, have interest, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter link).
12:06pm: The Knicks are meeting with Corey Brewer today in Los Angeles, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link), as New York is increasingly prioritzing him, as well as Derrick Williams, with whom the team is also meeting today, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). The Lakers are still interested in Brewer, according to Broussard (on Twitter), a couple of days after he and the team reportedly met. The Rockets were apparently intent on re-signing him when they reportedly became first team to contact Brewer as his free agency began this week, but Houston isn’t really in the mix for the Happy Walters client now, a source told Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Feigen nonetheless suggests the distinct possibility that the Rockets get back in the game on the 29-year-old who’s shown a clear preference to remain in Houston (Twitter link).
Brewer waived his player option upon the trade that sent him to Houston this past season with the thought that the Rockets would use Early Bird rights to re-sign him, Feigen writes. Houston can pay him up to nearly $8.23MM without using cap room, but it appears as though the Rockets haven’t offered him an amount close to that figure, as Feigen indicates.
Broussard estimates that the Knicks have about $8MM in cap flexibility left, presumably working off the assumption that New York will miss on DeAndre Jordan and that Robin Lopez will instead sign with the team to pair with Arron Afflalo, who’s already agreed to a deal. The Lakers hang back with max-level cap room, so they would ostensibly have an edge in a bidding war. Brewer, who once played for George Karl, has apparently piqued the interest of some members of the Kings brass, and Sacramento has no shortage of cap flexibility, either. The Celtics also reportedly spoke with him.
Mutual Interest Between Heat, Lou Williams
The Heat and Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams have mutual interest, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, while league sources tell Jake Fischer of SI Now that the Kings will begin talks with Williams and Josh Smith today (Twitter link). Williams would have to take a steep discount unless the Heat, who likely have only the $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level to spend above the minimum on outside free agents, can clear quite a bit of salary or pull off a sign-and-trade, and Jackson has received no indication of any ongoing sign-and-trade discussions. The Kings, with plenty of cap flexibility to play with following their agreement on a three-player trade with the Sixers and failed pursuits of Monta Ellis and Wesley Matthews, would appear to have more of a clear shot at Williams, though it’s unclear if he’s as interested in Sacramento as he appears to be in Miami.
The Knicks reportedly reached out to Williams earlier this week. The new client of Wallace Prather was apparently expected to hear from New York and Sacramento, as well as the Lakers and Nets, while Jackson anticipated that he would reach out to the Heat. Williams called re-signing with the Raptors the ideal situation in April, but Toronto, which was reportedly chasing Matthews, largely hasn’t been linked to its own free agent since.
Houston and Smith reportedly have mutual interest, but the Rockets aren’t making much progress with their free agents at this point as they wait to hear LaMarcus Aldridge‘s decision, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle details. Several reports indicated that the Kings engaged in talks with the Pistons about trading for Smith last summer, and Smith has said that he and Rajon Rondo, who’s meeting with the Kings, have spoken on multiple occasions about the possibility of playing together.
Free Agent Rumors: Stoudemire, Hill, Butler
The free agent signing period is now in its second day, and here are the latest rumblings from around the league:
- The Clippers, Rockets, Mavericks, Lakers, and Suns all have expressed interest in signing Amar’e Stoudemire as a backup big man, Chris Broussard of ESPN.com relays (Twitter link). Stoudemire is only interested in signing with the Clippers if DeAndre Jordan departs and he could become the starter, Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times tweets.
- The Mavs will shift focus to pursuing unrestricted free agent Jordan Hill if the team misses out on signing Jordan, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com tweets.
- Having missed out on Greg Monroe, one of their prime free agent targets, the Knicks have been in contact with Hill’s representatives, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes.
- Caron Butler, who was waived by the Bucks shortly after they had acquired him from the Pistons, is on the Knicks‘ radar thanks to his shooting ability and potential fit in the triangle offense, Marc Berman of The New York Post tweets. The Cavaliers have also been in constant contact with Butler, though no signing appears imminent, notes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
- Unrestricted free agent Quincy Acy is garnering interest from the Magic, Kings, Pelicans, Hawks, and Spurs, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders relays (via Twitter).
- Free agent Gigi Datome is split on whether to return to the NBA next season or to play in Europe, tweets Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. The forward’s primary concern is playing time, not money, adds Himmelsbach.
- The Mavs are back in play for J.J. Barea after he was leaning toward signing with the Heat Wednesday, TNT’s David Aldridge relays in a series of tweets. The point guard is seeking a three-year deal, Aldridge adds. Dallas is optimistic it can land Barea but is waiting for other free agents to make their decisions first, notes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com (on Twitter).
- Unrestricted free agent Joel Freeland said that he will sign with a European team if he doesn’t agree to an NBA contract by July 10th, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (via Twitter).
- Center Kosta Koufos has received interest from the Mavs, Lakers and Kings, Kennedy tweets. The Bucks had shown interest as well, prior to signing Greg Monroe, Kennedy adds.
- Free agent forward Derrick Williams is scheduled to meet with the Knicks and Mavericks today in Los Angeles, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets.
- The Pistons and Suns both made hard pushes to sign DeMarre Carroll, who instead inked a deal with the Raptors, Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com relays (Twitter link). Carroll was blown away by Toronto’s offer, its environment, and is a big fan of coach Dwane Casey, Arnovitz adds.