Morey: Rockets Will ‘Never Trade’ Dwight, Harden
Rockets GM Daryl Morey said his team would “never trade” Dwight Howard and James Harden amid comments to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that deride Mavs owner Mark Cuban for, among other moves, breaking up the core of his 2011 title team. Morey told Wojnarowski that he thought Cuban, who’s lobbed incendiary statements of his own at the Rockets from time to time, is angry at him for targeting Dirk Nowitzki in free agency. That longshot bid that didn’t derail the Mavs from re-signing the power forward to a discounted three-year deal.
“We’re no different than other teams,” Morey said. “We have a core of two players – Dwight Howard and James Harden – who we are going to build around and never trade. San Antonio has had three core guys who they’ve done an unbelievable job of building around, making a lot of changes around that core. We had Tracy McGrady and Yao [Ming] and we made changes around them. And Mark’s had a core of one [Nowitzki], who was there since before he bought the team.”
The case of Nowitzki, to whom the Rockets reportedly made a max offer, runs contrary to Morey’s assertion that if free agents are presented with equal offers from Houston and Dallas, they’ll choose the Rockets “every time,” since Nowitzki took less money to return to the Mavs. Still, the point of Morey’s remarks seemed to be chiefly to jab the outspoken Dallas owner, as Morey said the Rockets are in a fight “for the hearts and minds of free agents.”
There haven’t been any trade rumors surrounding Harden or Howard in recent months, as it’s seemed that the Rockets are indeed trying to build around them as pillars of the franchise. Still, Morey’s comments seem to preclude the notion that the team will look to reboot any time soon if this summer’s disappointments in free agency translate into regression in the standings. Howard is signed through the summer of 2017, though he can opt out in the summer of 2016. Harden’s deal runs through the 2017/18 season with no option clauses.
Southwest Notes: Grizzlies, Rockets, Baynes
The absence of Nick Calathes for the first 13 games because of his suspension will leave the Grizzlies thin at the point, and there’s a decent chance it’ll have an effect on how many players the team carries out of camp, coach Dave Joerger admits. Joerger shared his thoughts in a subscription-only Q&A with Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal.
“We might need an insurance policy,” Joerger said. “But you’ve got some guys that come in and one area affects the other because we have 14 spots [filled]. We can only keep one. If one guy wows you in an area, then you’re dealing with risk/reward. You might be kind of naked with two point guards. Can Courtney [Lee] swing over there? I don’t know. Being at the [luxury] tax and having 14 roster spots, it’ll be interesting.”
Here’s more from around the Southwest Division:
- The Rockets granted Akil Mitchell a partial guarantee worth $150K on his deal, which runs two seasons at the minimum salary, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports. The guarantee, fairly sizable for a player of his caliber, might be an enticement for Mitchell to end up playing for the team’s D-League affiliate, Pincus speculates.
- John Holland has a $20K partial guarantee on his minimum-salary contract with the Spurs, which runs for two seasons, Pincus reports (Twitter link).
- In the same tweet, Pincus confirms his earlier report that the Spurs used part of their $5.035MM mid-level exception rather than Early Bird rights to sign Aron Baynes. That’s even though he’ll make precisely $2.077MM, the amount of the biannual exception, on his one-year deal. It’s curious, since using Early Bird rights would have allowed the Spurs to preserve their mid-level, and thus greater flexibility for signing free agent target Ray Allen or someone else, so perhaps there are more details at play that have yet to be reported.
- Mavs owner Mark Cuban believes his team has been the beneficiary of the unwillingness of other NBA clubs to show patience with young talent that’s yet to blossom, as he told reporters, including Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. “I think one of the things we’ve been really good at is finding what I call fallen angels, guys who other teams had a lot of aspirations for but for whatever reason couldn’t fit,” Cuban said. “Al [Al-Farouq Aminu] was the first call I made when free agency hit. These are guys that I think, even though they don’t have big names and not everybody knows who they are, are going to have big impacts, and I think that’s one way you get younger.”
Western Notes: Rockets, Kerr, Nuggets
The Rockets had quite a difficult offseason. From being spurned by Chris Bosh, losing Chandler Parsons to the Mavs in free agency, and dealing away Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik for essentially nothing in return, as far as the current roster is concerned, it’s been a rough few months in Houston. In his training camp preview, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle looks at the main questions facing the franchise.
Here’s more from out west:
- Steve Kerr spent time over the summer building relationships with his Warriors players, and he says he isn’t concerned that the widespread support for Mark Jackson within the locker room last year will be a factor, as he tells Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group.
- Kenneth Faried, J.J. Hickson, and Darrell Arthur will all play major roles in any success the Nuggets have this season. Demetrius Jacobs of NBA.com breaks down the power forwards on Denver’s roster and what each brings to the court. Jacobs also looks at the Nuggets’ centers in a separate article.
- In a subscriber’s only piece, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal breaks down the Grizzlies‘ power forwards, and believes Jon Leuer‘s production as Zach Randolph‘s backup will be a key factor this season.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Rockets Sign Akil Mitchell For Camp
FRIDAY, 11:07am: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
WEDNESDAY, 2:02pm: The Rockets are set to sign former Virginia power forward Akil Mitchell, reports Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston (Twitter link). The team has its biannual exception available to give him more than the minimum, but it seems most likely that it’s a minimum-salary deal for training camp that includes a nominal guarantee, at best.
The 6’8″ Mitchell spent time with Houston’s summer league team in July after going undrafted in June. He averaged 3.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game for the Rockets in the Orlando summer league, numbers that reflect what he did in college, where he put up 6.8 PPG and 7.0 RPG in 25.7 MPG as a senior. He had an expanded offensive role in his junior season, when he scored 13.1 PPG.
Mitchell, 22, is probably the final addition to the camp roster for Houston, which had been carrying deals with 19 players. It’ll be a tough road for him and the other camp invitees to make it to opening night, since 15 Rockets have fully guaranteed deals and Patrick Beverley, the projected starter at point guard, is on a non-guaranteed contract.
And-Ones: Pistons, LeBron, Contract Details
The Pistons have a new direction as a franchise now that Stan Van Gundy has taken over as team president and head coach. In their season preview the crew at Basketball Insiders don’t see the team becoming contenders just yet, and their predictions have Detroit finishing either third or fourth in the Central Division.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Nuggets signees Joe Alexander and Marcus Williams, new Lakers Keith Appling, Jabari Brown, Roscoe Smith and Jeremy Tyler, Heat additions Andre Dawkins and Shawn Jones, Wizards wing men Xavier Silas and Damion James, and Hasheem Thabeet of the Pistons are all on non-guaranteed one-year contracts for the minimum salary, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders details (All four Twitter links here).
- LeBron James might be gone from Miami, but he takes with him a number of lessons the Heat organization taught him about professionalism, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com writes. James is a much different person than when he was with the Cavs the first time, notes Windhorst, and the additions of Shawn Marion, Mike Miller, and James Jones are indications that Cleveland wants to bump up the work ethic and preparation habits of their younger players.
- When asked about departed free agent Trevor Ariza, who left the Wizards to sign with the Rockets this summer, Marcin Gortat believed Ariza’s decision wasn’t about finances, tweets Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. Gortat said, “In my opinion I think he was trying to get back to the West. I don’t think it was about the money.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Papanikolaou, Liz, Ivey, Gay
Kostas Papanikolaou’s two-year deal with the Rockets is non-guaranteed, surprisingly, but this year’s salary of nearly $4.798MM becomes fully guaranteed if he remains on the roster through Sunday, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). His second-year salary of almost $4.6MM becomes fully guaranteed if he sticks through September 28th next year, Pincus adds.
Here’s more from out west:
- Dominican Republic guard Victor Liz is working on a deal to re-sign overseas, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). Liz had reportedly been offered a training camp invite by the Mavericks.
- Former Hawks player Royal Ivey will be an assistant coach for the Thunder‘s D-League affiliate, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Twitter link).
- With Rudy Gay picking up his player option to return to Sacramento, the Kings have stability at the small forward position for the first time in years, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee writes.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Zoran Dragic, Suns Nearing Deal
9:32am: Dragic’s agents have informed the Spanish team that the Suns have a two-year offer on the table and that the guard will buy out his contract, freeing him to head to Phoenix, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports (Twitter link).
THURSDAY, 9:11am: Dragic has told Unicaja Malaga that the Suns have made him an offer, Guerra tweets.
TUESDAY, 7:55am: There’s no October 5th deadline in Dragic’s contract with Unicaja Malaga, so he can leave the team to come to the NBA after that date should he choose to do so, reports Rafael M. Guerra of La Opinión de Málaga (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Goran Dragic would likely pick up part of the tab for the buyout necessary to bring his brother to the Suns, Guerra adds.
SUNDAY, 1:30pm: The Suns have emerged as the frontrunners to sign Dragic, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). The guard is likely to land a two year deal, notes Stein.
SATURDAY, 9:21 pm: Zoran Dragic is in advanced discussions with Unicaja Malaga to leave the team and come to the NBA, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. The Slovenian point guard has a buyout clause of $1.1MM to leave the Euroleague team, so presumably he has an agreement in place with an NBA squad. It’s possible that the team could have relinquished its buyout requirement, or that Dragic is paying for it himself, but it is much more likely that an NBA team is set to foot the bill.
The Suns, Pacers, and Kings have been named as the most aggressive suitors for the younger brother of Goran Dragic, although the Cavs, Heat, Magic, Spurs, Mavs, and Rockets have also registered interest. If Phoenix has struck a deal with the 25-year-old, it could have massive ripple effects around the league. The Suns are at a negotiating standoff with restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe, and adding another Dragic to the already-stacked Phoenix backcourt could signal their willingness to move on from Bledsoe, who Minnesota would bring on with a max contract if they had the room to do so.
Momentum has been building all summer for the younger Dragic, who has until October 5th to exercise the escape clause before becoming locked into another season overseas. At one point, it seemed like a long shot that the point guard would be coming stateside before next season, but he repeatedly stated his desire to find his way to the NBA amid a strong performance in the FIBA tournament spotlight. The hefty buyout payment, which exceeds the $600K max to not count against the cap, could mean that at least one team believes in him as a player who can contribute immediately. If Dragic fetches more than the minimum from a team willing to invest in his services, the Cavs, Heat, and Mavs are unlikely candidates to have snagged him.
Hawks Sign Kent Bazemore
SEPTEMBER 23RD: The deal is at last official, the team announced via press release.
SEPTEMBER 11TH: The Hawks and Bazemore finally put pen to paper Wednesday, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The team has yet to make an official announcement. It’s likely that the signing took so long to complete because Atlanta wanted to preserve cap space, though that’s just my speculation. The Hawks could have used cap space to acquire other players and circled back to sign Bazemore using the room exception. As it stands, they’re using cap space to ink Bazemore.
JULY 11TH: 9:50pm: Bazemore’s agent, Austin Walton, confirmed the deal and that it is fully guaranteed, tweets Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops.
9:31pm: Kent Bazemore has reached an agreement to join the Hawks, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The deal is for two years and $4MM, according to Stein. Shams Charania of RealGM tweets that the deal is fully guaranteed, and contains no options.
The shooting guard was traded along with MarShon Brooks from the Warriors to the Lakers in the Steve Blake deal on February 19th of this year. Bazemore’s career numbers are 4.1 PPG, 1.1 RPG, and 0.9 APG.
The 25 year old who originally went undrafted out of Old Dominion also received interest from the Hornets, Lakers, Rockets, Spurs, Warriors and Celtics.
Rockets Sign Kostas Papanikolaou
SEPTEMBER 23RD: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
AUGUST 11TH, 8:06am: George Sferopoulos, the agent for Papanikolaou, posted a photo on Twitter of what appears to be Papanikolaou signing his Rockets contract (hat tip to Sportando). The team has yet to make an official announcement.
AUGUST 8TH, 7:01pm: The Rockets will pay FC Barcelona the maximum Excluded International Player Payment Amount of $600K to bring Papanikolaou to the states this season, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (via Twitter). As was reported last month, the total of the buyout is $1.5MM, meaning that Pananikolaou will be responsible for the difference of about $900K.
5:05pm: The first season is worth $4.8MM, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, and the second year is a team option. That figure is likely rounded up from $4,797,664, which is what the Rockets had left on their mid-level. The second season’s salary will be $4.6MM, Wojnarowski reports (Twitter link).
4:54pm: The Rockets and draft-and-stash prospect Kostas Papanikolaou have struck a deal that will bring the Greek small forward to Houston this season, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. It appears to be more than a minimum-salary deal, since Stein adds that the Rockets are using part of their mid-level exception (Twitter links). It’ll be a two-year arrangement, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter).
Papanikolaou and the Rockets had reportedly stopped talking last month after the 24-year-old turned down an apparent two-year, $4MM offer. It seems the two sides circled back to the idea, however, and the 48th pick of the 2012 draft will suit up for Houston this coming season. Papanikolaou was initially selected by the Knicks in 2012 before his draft rights were traded to the Blazers a few weeks later. Last summer, his rights went to Houston as a part of the deal for Thomas Robinson.
The 6-foot-7 forward played in Spain last year for FC Barcelona, where he averaged 6.8 points on just over 47 percent shooting in 24.2 minutes per game. But it was the prior campaign in which he made a name for himself, shooting over 46 percent from three and 53 percent from the field for Greece’s Olympiacos en route to being named the Euroleague Rising Star for the 2012/13 season.
The signing of Papanikolaou is the latest manuever in what has to be considered a disappointing offseason in Houston for GM Daryl Morey. After striking out on Chris Bosh, the Rockets lost Chandler Parsons, Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin from a team that won 54 games. They managed to offset some of that bad fortune by adding Trevor Ariza, Jeff Adrien, Joey Dorsey and Ishmael Smith, though that foursome would be hard-pressed to duplicate the contributions of the group that departed. Depending on how NBA-ready he looks in preseason, Papanikolaou could be in the mix at both forward positions.
Southwest Rumors: Leonard, Mohammed, Asik
Kawhi Leonard isn’t making any promises about signing an extension with the Spurs before the October 31st deadline for him to do so, but he tells Jabari Young of the San Antonio News-Express that he’s pleased with the other moves the team made this summer. He expressed particular satisfaction with new deals for Boris Diaw and Patty Mills, as well as Tony Parker‘s extension. “I’m happy about that just in case the Spurs do extend me and if I am a Spur for life,” Leonard said. “That’s a great thing to know that Tony will be there.” Let’s have a look at the latest from the Southwest:
- Nazr Mohammed had expressed interest in returning to the Spurs for the 2014/15 season, but San Antonio clearly didn’t reciprocate the feeling, Young tweets. Mohammed, who won a championship with the Spurs in 2005, re-signed with the Bulls on minimum-salary contract this afternoon.
- While taking on Omer Asik‘s bloated contract is definitely a risk for the Pelicans, Jimmy Smith of the Times-Picayune thinks New Orleans potentially stands to reap some major benefits from the decision. Specifically, Smith thinks Asik’s presence will help alleviate the pressure placed on Anthony Davis, who otherwise received the brunt of opposing teams’ attention last year in a less-than-stellar frontcourt.
- Some of the advice that helped Kostas Papanikolaou decide to sign with Houston came from former Rockets shooting guard and fellow Greek native Vassilis Spanoulis, an unlikely source given the frustration Spanoulis felt upon his exit from the team. Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle has the details.
- The Mavericks had a busy offseason, and it’s one that Jae Crowder believes will push Dallas to the next level of competition, as Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram transcribes. “I feel like we picked up some championship-level pieces,” Crowder said. “I’m not just blowing gas… “One thing Cuban was talking about was just having a good mix of older guys and younger guys, and I feel like that’s exactly what they did this summer with bringing in a good group of guys.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.