And-Ones: Wiggins, Ariza, Mavs
No. 1 overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins is only averaging 9.8 PPG after his first four NBA games, but the Wolves rookie is already drawing comparisons to another NBA star, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops writes. “He reminded me of Paul George,” an Eastern Conference GM told Scotto. “Paul came in a better off-ball defender than Andrew. He’s [Wiggins] probably a good on-ball defender. Paul had a very difficult time handling the ball when he came in and worked on it and their shooting is similar. I’d say Andrew is a hair better athlete and Paul is a little bigger maybe.” The biggest difference between the two players as rookies is Wiggins is under much more scrutiny and pressure than George was as a rookie thanks to his top slot on the draft board, adds Scotto.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Despite quite a few predictions of a Cavs–Bulls Eastern Conference Finals, the Raptors and the Wizards might prove those prognostications premature, Eric Koreen of The National Post writes. Toronto and Washington are taking different approaches regarding the mixture of veterans and younger players on their respective rosters, notes Koreen. The Raptors are building around a younger core, and the Wizards, despite younger stars like Bradley Beal and John Wall, have added a number of long-in-the-tooth veterans this past offseason. Wizards coach Randy Wittman said, “Obviously, talent prevails. You’ve got to have that first. It was important for us to have a mixture of veterans with our young guys,” Koreen adds.
- The Mavs have been affiliated with the Texas Legends of the D-League for five seasons and view the partnership as a way to experiment with new ideas, Bryan Gutierrez of ESPNDallas.com writes. “There have always been a lot of advantages to having the team in Frisco, but we’re using it more experimentally now,” Mavs owner Mark Cuban said. “There are certain things we’ll hopefully unveil that will be different. We’ve been practicing some things, and hopefully they will work. We want to try some things that will hopefully change things up.”
- Trevor Ariza is making it easy for Rockets fans to forget that Chandler Parsons is now in Dallas, Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) writes. Thus far, Ariza is averaging 15.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 3.2 APG, while shooting a ridiculous 55% from behind the arc for the 6-0 Rockets.
Western Notes: Rockets, Thunder, McLemore
Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said he won’t judge coach Kevin McHale merely by how far the team goes in the playoffs this year and expressed support for the front office as he spoke with Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Alexander pointed to Trevor Ariza and Kostas Papanikolaou as key additions in an offseason that, as the owner acknowledged, didn’t go as planned.
“It was a very difficult offseason,” Alexander said. “There were big decisions that really didn’t go our way. It was tough. It was tough going through it and hoping you’d be able to rebound and have a really good team. I liked the moves that we made. And we still have flexibility to make other moves, which I believe is important.”
The Rockets, with a league-best 5-0 record, put that unbeaten mark on the line tonight against a Spurs team that plans to rest Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- The Thunder would likely apply for a second hardship provision, which would give them a 17th roster spot, if they expect that a knee injury that Perry Jones III suffered Tuesday will force him to miss a significant amount of time, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. The team is poised to make Ish Smith its 16th player.
- Ben McLemore has hired the Klutch Sports Group for his representation, the agency announced (Twitter link). The second-year shooting guard recently left agent Rodney Blackstock. Klutch has close ties to the Cavs, but the earliest McLemore could reach unrestricted free agency by his own choosing would be the summer of 2018.
- Flip Saunders said uncertainty over the Timberwolves roster this summer prior to the Kevin Love trade helped keep him from hiring Lionel Hollins as Minnesota’s coach, observes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. Saunders said he couldn’t promise Hollins, who interviewed for the coaching job that Saunders ultimately took for himself, that the Wolves would have the sort of veteran roster that Hollins is accustomed to, as Bontemps notes.
Western Notes: Durant, Rockets, Thompson
The message in HBO’s “Kevin Durant: The Offseason” documentary shows the Roc Nation Sports agency’s heavy hand in Durant’s affairs and paints the reigning MVP as a player who’s eager to win, even if it means leaving the Thunder in 2016, as Ben Golliver of SI.com opines. Even though Durant says as the film’s credits roll that he has “no doubts” about the Thunder’s ability to win a championship eventually, the film makes it clear he’s ready to seek a title elsewhere if any such doubts creep in. We passed along more on Durant this morning, and there’s another Durant-related item amid the latest from the Western Conference:
- The Rockets are among the many teams planning a run at Durant when he can become a free agent in 2016, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com says in a video report.
- The maximum salaries for 2015/16 won’t be known until July, but the league is estimating that the 25% max that Klay Thompson is set to receive in his extension from the Warriors will give him a $15.5MM salary for next season, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). That would mean $69MM over the life of the four-year deal, as Pincus also illustrates. That’s up significantly from the $14.746MM that 25% max signees received for this season. Kyrie Irving is also in line for the $15.5MM starting salary in his five-year max extension, though he has a better chance than Thompson does to trigger the Derrick Rose rule, which he and the Cavs agreed would give him a max worth approximately 27.5% of the salary cap.
- Cory Joseph acknowledges that it wasn’t surprising when he didn’t sign an extension with the Spurs when he was eligible before the end of last month, and the ever-optimistic point guard looks ahead to restricted free agency as an opportunity. Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News has the details.
2014 Camp Invitees Who Remain On NBA Rosters
Players face a daunting challenge when they arrive at NBA training camps without guaranteed money on their contracts. Most teams enter October with all but one or two of the spots on their opening-night rosters already spoken for. Camp invitees can occasionally convince a team to eat a guaranteed contract to open up an extra spot, as was the case with Charlie Villanueva and the Mavericks this year, but for the most part, regular season jobs are limited to those who proved their worth long before the preseason began.
Still, Villanueva is one of more than a dozen NBA players who remain on NBA rosters after signing non-guaranteed contracts in the offseason. Villanueva is like most such players in that he has extensive NBA experience. Few rookies made it to opening night on non-guaranteed deals, in part because teams often slip nominal partial guarantees of $100K or less to younger players to entice them sign on the premise that they’ll be cut and end up with the team’s D-League affiliate. That’s often a less lucrative route for those players than signing overseas would be, so the extra cash of a partial guarantee helps offset that difference.
Knicks longshot Travis Wear might be the most notorious of this year’s training camp long shots who stuck around for the regular season, but his $62K guarantee keeps him off the list below. The same is true for Rockets rookie Tarik Black, who’s surprisingly emerged as Dwight Howard‘s backup. There had been some confusion about whether his contract was partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed, but multiple sources tell Hoops Rumors that Black’s salary is partially guaranteed for $50K this season.
Long-tenured veterans rarely end up in the D-League, so they aren’t usually afforded the same small guarantees given to rookies or players with limited NBA experience. Still, there are a few rookies who are on NBA rosters without guaranteed salary, including Joe Ingles, who appeared to have come up short in his quest to make it to opening night before the Jazz claimed him off waivers from the Clippers. K.J. McDaniels, the 32nd overall pick in this year’s draft, had a leg up on most non-guaranteed rookies, given his draft position, and he’s only on a non-guaranteed deal because he signed Philadelphia’s required tender after rejecting a long-term deal from the club.
Alonzo Gee‘s salary is fully guaranteed, but it was non-guaranteed throughout the preseason as he battled to remain on the Nuggets roster. The same was true for Nets center Jerome Jordan, who earned a $100K partial guarantee when he stuck around. Those two are on this list, but A.J. Price isn’t. Price made it to opening night on his non-guaranteed contract with the Cavs, but he didn’t last much longer, as Cleveland cut him loose to sign Will Cherry this weekend. Players who signed prior to this past offseason on multiyear deals that included non-guaranteed salary for 2014/15 don’t appear on this list, either, owing to the benefit that incumbency gave them on their newly signed teammates.
Caveats aside, here are the players who are still on NBA rosters after signing non-guaranteed deals this summer:
- Louis Amundson, Cavaliers
- Shannon Brown, Heat
- Rasual Butler, Wizards
- Jared Cunningham, Clippers
- Andre Dawkins, Heat
- Wayne Ellington, Lakers
- Alonzo Gee, Nuggets
- Joe Ingles, Jazz
- Jerome Jordan, Nets
- K.J. McDaniels, Sixers
- Jason Maxiell, Hornets
- Nazr Mohammed, Bulls
- Ronnie Price, Lakers
- Lance Thomas, Thunder
- Charlie Villanueva, Mavericks
Rockets Exercise Jones, Motiejunas Options
FRIDAY, 9:05am: Houston has indeed picked up the options, as the RealGM transactions log shows, even though the team still hasn’t made a formal announcement.
THURSDAY, 5:00pm: The Rockets have picked up the fourth-year team options on the rookie contracts of Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle reports, though the team has yet to make a public acknowledgement. Jones will earn $2,489,530 during the 2015/16 season, and Motiejunas will pocket $2,288,205. These moves will give Houston a total of $55,137,043 in guaranteed salary commitments for 2015/16, and that figure doesn’t include the team option on Kostas Papanikolaou for $4,797,664.
Jones was selected with the 18th overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft, and has been the Rockets starting power forward for much of the past two seasons. His career numbers over 97 games are 10.8 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 1.3 BPG. His career slash line is .533/.303/.615.
The 7’0″ Motiejunas was taken with the 20th overall pick back in the 2011 draft. He has appeared in 108 contests, including 17 as a starter, and has averaged 5.5 PPG and 3.0 RPG. His slash line is .448/.268/.613.
Texas Notes: Cuban, Mekel, Rockets
Earlier tonight, the Spurs hoisted their newest championship banner and tried on their shiny new championship rings. Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News was on hand for the Spurs ring ceremony, which he says was shorter than most. I guess you don’t feel compelled to have an over-the-top celebration when you’ve won five titles since 1999. More from the Lone Star State..
- Mavs owner Mark Cuban says he talked to Gal Mekel for over an hour about the possibility of J.J. Barea joining the team, tweets Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “He’s improved more than anybody on the team and he deserves a lot of respect. He’s earned it,” Cuban said (link). Earlier tonight, Cuban confirmed that Mekel would be the odd man out if Barea was signed, though it sounds like he wishes he had an extra roster spot.
- The Mavs‘ decision to keep Charlie Villanueva‘s non-guaranteed contract over Bernard James shows that they are willing to move on from a player with a guaranteed deal if it helps the team, writes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Of course, Mekel is the latest guaranteed contract player to find himself on the bubble.
- The Rockets’ new reserve center, Tarik Black, is ecstatic to have made the final 15 player regular season roster, Feigen writes. “It feels awesome,” Black said. “It feels great. I put it out of my mind as far as pressure. Obviously, I knew I was on the chopping block and I was on a non-guaranteed contract. Now that it’s official that I’m actually on the team and I’ll spend the season here and I’ll have the opportunity, it feels great. It’s a dream come true.”
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Howard, Kobe, Robinson, Blazers
Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss believes her team let Dwight Howard down during his year there, wants Kobe Bryant to continue playing after his contract expires in 2016, and also tells USA Today’s Sam Amick that the organization is functioning more smoothly with Phil Jackson off to New York:
“I think it is trying to find how we’re going to operate together. I believe that Phil was a source of conflict between me and my brother and Mitch, I guess, as well. And now that Phil, as of six months ago, is now off the market and has a job – isn’t in the wings – that source of conflict is removed. And I think that the way we operate is becoming more clear. I’m satisfied with everybody’s role, and now we just need everybody to step up and do what is required of them. For me, that means stepping up and talking about the organization and being the face of the organization and establishing the clear lines of authority and transparency and, ultimately, accountability, which lies on my shoulders.”
Buss adds that fellow co-owner and brother Jim Buss, along with GM Mitch Kupchak, have assured her that the team will make progress in win column each season in the coming years. More from the West..
- Although the Blazers declined to pick up his team option of $4.7MM for the 2015/16 season, Thomas Robinson expressed his desire to remain in Portland, writes Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. “I don’t think that worry should be even close. I want to stay thinking positive and that’s what I’m going to continue to do. Hopefully toward the end of the summer, the Blazers have a different mindset and they want to bring me back, because I want to be a part of this team. Something special is happening here. I want to be a part of it,” Robinson said.
- Howard says he didn’t bolt from the Lakers because of Kobe, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes. “I didn’t leave L.A. because I was afraid of Kobe Bryant,” Howard said. “I went to a good situation for myself. I can’t change people’s opinions, but I did what I had to do for myself.”
- The Lakers expect big things out of offseason acquisition Carlos Boozer, an assistant coach tells Ryan Primeaux of Lakers.com. “He’s a double-double virtually every night when he’s on his game. He provides leadership. He provides a constant, consistent low-post game, and the ability to step away from the basket and keep defenses honest. So he will definitely provide stability for us in the bigs department,” the unnamed coach told Primeaux.
Chuck Myron and Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
Southeast Notes: Bosh, Jordan, Hornets, Heat
Hornets owner Michael Jordan has finally learned how to win games without the basketball in his hands, writes Steve Reed of the Associated Press. “I can impact the game in shorts and tennis shoes,” Jordan said. “When I had those on it was easy to prove people wrong. It’s hard to do that now when I have a suit on. I have to rely upon other people understanding my message and my focus.” The Hornets have high expectations this season and many expect the team to make playoffs. Here’s more from the Southeast division:
- Chris Bosh isn’t shy about stating his desire to have more freedom in the offense as a reason he chose the Heat over the Rockets in free agency, tweets Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald. In terms of a slice of an apple pie chart, said Bosh (link), “It would be a big slice, a nice slice. A big-man slice. Big. Huge. Unhealthy slice. Close to half.”
- Although the Hornets are not making a substantial amount of money, Jordan claims the team is getting closer to breaking even, tweets Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Charlotte is believed to have lost $34MM in basketball operations last year, according to Zach Lowe of Grantland.
- Jordan was quick to point out that money wasn’t a main reason why Josh McRoberts departed the Hornets this offseason, writes Bonnell. McRoberts signed with the Heat for a four year deal worth the full value of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception (~$22.6MM).
- One of the reasons Danny Granger chose the Heat in free agency was the team’s high shooting percentage over the last few years, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “They have a lot of layups, a lot of open threes, things some other teams just don’t get, which is why they shot such a high percentage. I definitely think I will be able to do that here. I’m definitely going to be over 40 percent, probably 45, 46,” said Granger. Granger added that he hopes to become a more efficient player with the Heat.
Josh Powell Considering Retirement
After being waived by the Rockets last week, forward Josh Powell is considering retirement and a move to coaching, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes. Powell has remained with Houston to try his hand at coaching and if he hangs up his sneakers, he could officially join the staff as a player development coach with a focus on the big men.
“It just fell into place,” Powell said. “I don’t ever question what God has in store. One door closes and another one opens. Coach (Kevin McHale) is being patient with me. Everyone has been real helpful in helping me through the transition process. I look forward to a new chapter and an exciting opportunity.”
Powell, a veteran of seven NBA seasons (counting his brief time with Houston last season), has career averages of 3.9 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 12.6 minutes per contest. He has spent time with the Mavs, Pacers, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Hawks, and Rockets since his debut in 2005/06.
Rockets GM Daryl Morey spoke highly of Powell and said that he would make a “fantastic coach if he chooses to go that route,” according to Feigen.
Southwest Notes: Barea, Mavs, Pelicans, Cotton
The Rockets were the busiest Southwest team on roster cut-down day, waiving a total of five players to get down to 15. However, the Mavericks had an interesting day as well, deciding to waive reserve point guard Gal Mekel in hopes of reuniting with recently released J.J. Barea. Let’s see what else is going on in the Southwest tonight:
- As Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes, any team that wants to claim Mavericks-target Barea off waivers would need more than about $4.5MM in cap space, or a trade exception or disabled player exception of at least that size. Sefko mentions the rival Rockets as a team that might want to claim Barea but likely wouldn’t based on its lack of flexibility.
- The Mavericks tried to acquire Barea from the Wolves last season but the teams couldn’t come to an agreement, according to Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press (via Twitter).
- The Pelicans‘ desire to re-sign Omer Asik is a factor in the team declining to pick up the 2015/16 option on Austin Rivers, writes John Reid of the Times Picayune. Reid adds that with Eric Gordon likely to opt in to his $15.5MM salary for next season, New Orleans preferred the additional financial flexibility.
- Bryce Cotton, who was released by the Spurs last week, plans to sign with San Antonio’s D-League affiliate in the next few days, sources tell Jabari Young of Comcast Sports Northwest (via Twitter).