Rockets Sign Carlos Delfino
AUGUST 20TH, 1:32pm: The Rockets have officially signed Delfino, the team announced today in a press release.
AUGUST 15TH, 2:57pm: Delfino's deal with the Rockets is worth $3MM in year one, with a second-year option also worth $3MM, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter links). Since that amount exceeds the $2.575MM room exception, Houston is using leftover cap space to complete the deal.
The team has reportedly waived Josh Harrellson to clear a spot for Delfino, so the signing should become official any time now.
AUGUST 13TH, 7:29pm: The Rockets have agreed to a two-year deal with swingman Carlos Delfino that includes a team option for 2013-14, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. It's unclear how much the contract is worth, but it's likely for more than the minimum salary, as last week's reports suggested. The Rockets have their $2.575MM room exception available, so the deal could be for all or most of that amount, but that's just my speculation.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported Thursday that the Rockets were "actively chasing" Delfino, who said he would sign with a team after the Olympics. The Celtics, Hawks, Pacers and Cavaliers were all reportedly in the running for Delfino at times this summer. The 6'6" Argentinian seemingly had his heart set on a multiyear deal, so the two-year pact with the Rockets offers a compromise of sorts, giving the team an out after this season.
Delfino, who spent the last three seasons with the Bucks, saw his role in the offense diminish last year after two straight seasons of double-figure scoring. His points per game went from 11.5 in 2010/11 to 9.0 in 2011/12, as his shots were cut from 10.5 a game to 8.4. Delfino played with an injured groin the last month of the season that required surgery in May, and was disappointed the Bucks didn't show more interest in re-signing him after he played hurt for them. The Bucks held his Bird rights, so they would have had no trouble bringing him back if they had interest. Milwaukee originally brought him aboard for three years and $10.5MM on a sign-and-trade from the Raptors in 2009.
The addition of Delfino gives the Rockets 21 players on the roster, Zach Lowe of SI.com notes via Twitter. That would seem to make them prime candidates to pull off a trade sometime between now and the start of the season.
Odds & Ends: Knicks, Nets, Thunder, Jazz
Let's round up a few Thursday odds and ends from around the Association:
- One agent tells Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link) that the Knicks are in no rush to sign any more free agents, while another agent says the Knicks "never do what you would assume."
- Jay-Z's influence on the Nets eclipses his ownership stake, which is just one-fifteenth of 1%, as David M. Halbfinger of the New York Times writes.
- Thunder GM Sam Presti values sustainability, and won't overpay James Harden and/or Serge Ibaka if there are more efficient ways to remain competitive, says Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman.
- Even when the CBA's more restrictive rules for taxpaying teams take effect next summer, teams willing to spend money will find a way to spend it, writes Tom Ziller of SBNation.com.
- The Jazz are making progress in contract talks with second-round pick Kevin Murphy and hope to have him signed before camp starts, tweets Brian T. Smith of the Salt Lake Tribune.
- Rockets owner Leslie Alexander is in talks to buy the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer, reports Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston.
Free Agent Spending By Division: Southwest
Our look at offseason spending continues today as we examine the fifth of six NBA divisions. So far, we've covered free agent expenditures in the Atlantic, Central and Southeast, and Northwest divisions, using Hoops Rumors' Free Agent Tracker. The Southwest division is up next, and it includes a surprising pair of teams at the top and bottom.
Once again, these figures only take into account free agent signings, so salary absorbed in trades or money used to sign draft picks isn't included in this list. Additionally, not all of this salary is necessarily guaranteed, which we'll try to note as we go along. Here are this summer's Southwest Division free agent costs, sorted by player salary:
New Orleans Hornets: $108.948MM (Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon, Robin Lopez, Roger Mason)
It wasn't a surprise to see the Hornets match the Suns' max offer sheet for Gordon and bring him back on a four-year deal worth $58MM+. But I wasn't expecting the Hornets to splurge on a couple more free agents, as they did with Anderson and Lopez. To be fair, it appears only the first year of Lopez's three-year, $15MM+ contract is guaranteed, but Anderson's four-year, $34MM deal is fully guaranteed. With Gordon, Anderson, Anthony Davis, and Austin Rivers signing four-year deals this summer, the Hornets' core appears to be in place through at least 2016.
Houston Rockets: $56.248MM (Omer Asik, Carlos Delfino, Jeremy Lin)
It appeared for some time as if the Rockets would use their cap space to absorb salary in a major trade. Instead, they used it to sign a pair of players to offer sheets they may have thought would be matched. The "poison pill" included in both Asik's and Lin's offer sheets won't apply to Houston, since the Rockets have the ability to spread the two players' annual salaries out more evenly (about $8.3MM per year each). Still, the $25.1MM they'll spend on each player is a risky investment.
San Antonio Spurs: $52.697MM (Boris Diaw, Tim Duncan, Danny Green, Patty Mills)
The Spurs' offseason was fairly quiet, as the team simply re-signed its own free agents rather than exploring the market too extensively. All of these contracts except Green's include a player option in the final year, and all four of them are fully guaranteed, with Duncan's $30MM representing by far the largest commitment.
Memphis Grizzlies: $26.832MM (Darrell Arthur, Jerryd Bayless, Hamed Haddadi, Marreese Speights)
Like the Spurs, the Grizzlies focused primarily on re-signing their own free agents, with one notable exception: Memphis replaced the departing O.J. Mayo with Bayless. Mayo ended up signing for not much more than the two-year, $6.135MM deal Bayless inked with the Grizzlies, so it will be interesting to see if the minor savings are worth it.
Dallas Mavericks: $17.444MM (Chris Kaman, O.J. Mayo, Delonte West)
The Mavericks appeared prepared to offer Deron Williams a four-year, $73MM+ contract, which would have significantly altered their place on this list. But when D-Will opted to return to the Nets, the Mavs took a more cautious approach to free agency, committing to Kaman, Mayo, and West on short-term deals. Given the possibility that Mayo will opt out of his second year and the fact that West is on a minimum-salary deal, the total amount the Mavs spend on this summer's free agents could end up being less than $13MM.
The Rockets’ Offer For Dwight Howard
When the Magic and three other teams finalized the deal that sent Dwight Howard to the Lakers, many writers and fans questioned Orlando's haul, wondering aloud if the Magic couldn't have landed more from another club. In his latest piece for SI.com Sam Amick takes an in-depth look at Rob Hennigan and his first big move as Orlando's general manager, exploring offers for Howard from the Nets and Rockets.
While the Nets' proposal has previously surfaced (Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, and either three or four first-round picks), there have been conflicting reports on what Houston offered for the star center. Amick's piece doesn't entirely clear up the confusion, but it does provide some clarity. Here are the details of the Rockets' offer as reported to the SI.com scribe:
- The Rockets were only offering two first-round picks. However, from Houston's perspective, those selections were more valuable than any that other Howard suitors were offering the Magic. One of the picks was from Toronto, with protection that all but guarantees it will be a lottery pick, while another was from Dallas, and has a chance to be entirely unprotected by 2018.
- Houston was also open to adding a third pick "if it got the deal done," Amick hears.
- According to Magic sources, Jeremy Lamb was the only one of the Rockets' three 2012 first-rounders available, and even he was taken off the table after a strong Summer League showing. However, Rockets sources tell Amick that the Magic were told they could have one, or possibly two, prospects from a group that included Lamb, Terrence Jones, Royce White, Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris, and Donatas Motiejunas.
- Kevin Martin and his $12MM+ expiring contract were necessary in the deal for salary-matching purposes. The Rockets also offered players that the Magic had little interest in, such as Gary Forbes and Jon Brockman.
- Houston offered "significant cap relief… but never in the form that the Magic wanted," says Amick. I won't try to guess exactly what that means, but given their cap situation, the Rockets would only have been able to take on some of Orlando's undesirable contracts, rather than all of them.
Rockets Waive Josh Harrellson
3:09pm: The Rockets confirmed via press release that they've officially waived Harrellson.
2:52pm: The Rockets have waived Josh Harrellson, according to Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston (via Twitter). Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle confirms the move, noting that the Rockets had to clear room to sign Carlos Delfino (Twitter link).
Harrellson was acquired by the Rockets in the sign-and-trade deal that sent Marcus Camby to New York shortly after the July moratorium ended. Harrellson was on a non-guaranteed contract, so it won't cost the Rockets anything to drop him.
In his rookie season for the Knicks, Harrellson averaged 4.4 points and 3.9 rebounds in 14.6 minutes over 37 games, including four starts. The 23-year-old big man will be eligible to sign with any team except the Knicks if and when he clears waivers.
Southwest Notes: Wright, Grizzlies, Jordan
When the "Dwightmare" was in full swing, perhaps no division in the NBA seemed a more likely landing spot for Dwight Howard than the Southwest. The Rockets made no secret about their relentless pursuit of the former Defensive Player of the Year, a position that general manager Daryl Morey has continued to embrace even with Howard now in purple and gold. The Mavericks were in the same boat, clearing out cap space last offseason in preparation of their pursuit of multiple free agent superstars. Both teams struck out and for now, the only team in the division that appears to have significantly improved is the Hornets. Lets take a look at some other links from the Southwest division:
- Last week we took a look at some of the issues holding up the Grizzlies' ownership transition from current owner Michael Heisley to tech industry billionaire Robert Pera. Matt Moore hits on many of the same points in a post today, pulling out several quotes from a piece in the Sporting News. It looks like there may be more than just stock price obstacles in this deal for Pera.
- Jeff Caplan from ESPN Dallas analyzes how Brandan Wright will fit in with the Mavericks this season in what is a contract year for the center. Caplan said that Wright's athleticism was an asset on offense for Dallas, but that wiry 7-footer was a liability on the defensive end. With a salary less than $1MM, the Mavericks will live with his ups and downs, but Wright is only 24 and it will be interesting to see how he performs approaching free agency and with veteran Chris Kaman eating up most of the minutes in the middle in Dallas.
- After being shipped from New York to Houston in the Marcus Camby deal, Jerome Jordan was promptly cut by the Rockets. Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld caught up with Jordan, now an unrestricted free agent, in Los Angeles where the Tulsa product is working out in hopes of landing a back-up role.
Daryl Morey Talks Dwight Howard, Roster Moves
For much of the offseason, it seemed that the Rockets were in the driver's seat to land Dwight Howard, armed with a handful of recent first-round picks, a few future first-rounders, and the cap space to absorb plenty of bad contracts from the Magic. But even after the Nets fell out of the running for Howard, it was the Lakers, not the Rockets that landed the All-Star center. Rockets GM Daryl Morey recently appeared on KBME in Houston and spoke to Matt Jackson about the Howard deal and the Rockets' own roster as the 2012/13 season approaches. Here are a few highlights, courtesy of Sports Radio Interviews:
On whether he felt the Rockets were close to acquiring Howard:
"I do, yeah. I do feel like it was close but they did their diligence and they were searching for something they thought they liked even more and they liked this trade better than anything we could offer. I promise you [Magic GM] Rob [Hennigan] knows what he’s doing and he thought this was best for Orlando and I think people will see over time that he’s a very good executive."
On Hennigan's suggestion that Houston's offer sheets for Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik made a Howard deal trickier:
"I haven’t seen Rob’s comments. I think those deals were done for a while now, so that would surprise me, but really the only opinion that matters is Rob’s. If he felt like that made it difficult, then it was difficult, right? At the end of the day, he has the player that he was trading that everyone wanted and there are a whole host of things that either made it positive or more difficult for them and how they value things."
On whether there are more moves coming before the offseason is over*:
“I think there’s a couple of free agents that we’re talking to and I don’t know if anything will work out but we’re very comfortable with what we have and rolling into training camp with that. We think it will be a team that can fight for a playoff spot but we’re always aggressive to try to do more and I think people know that. If something comes along we will do it, but really the reason why we’re comfortable with where we are at is if you look from one to 15, up and down the roster, it’s either a player who has got upside, who gives us flexibility to have cap room or we have the ability to, with the draft picks we picked up from Toronto and Dallas and those teams, the ability to trade for something. But we’re going to be patient and it takes two to tango. It’s gotta be where what we have is a fit with other teams."
* Morey's comments were made before news of the team's agreement with Carlos Delfino broke.
Central Rumors: Bucks, Villanueva, Pacers
Carlos Delfino agreed to sign with the Rockets tonight, and it's no surprise he's leaving the Bucks, who never made a push to retain their incumbent starting small forward. His departure opens up minutes at the three for Luc Mbah a Moute and Mike Dunleavy and gives 2011 19th overall pick Tobias Harris a chance to crack the rotation, tweets Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. We've got more on the Bucks and their Central Division rivals here:
- John Hollinger of ESPN.com wonders if the Bucks will try to turn Delfino's deal with the Rockets into a sign-and-trade, which would create a trade exception for Milwaukee (Twitter link). The Bucks, who hold Houston's 2014 second-round pick, could entice the rebuilding Rockets by offering it back to them, while the Bucks could take back one of the 21 players Houston is slated to bring to training camp. There would have to be a third season tacked on to Delfino's two-year deal per sign-and-trade rules, but that wouldn't be hard for the Rockets to do if they made it a non-guaranteed year, Hollinger tweets.
- The Pistons may look to move Charlie Villanueva or Austin Daye to free up roster space for Ben Wallace to return to the team, Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News writes. The team could also use Villanueva as a trade chip next summer, when he'll be entering the final season of his five-year, $37.7MM deal, but the 6'11" power forward is determined to prove he's worth keeping around.
- The Indianapolis Capitol Improvement Board and the Pacers are in the early stages of negotiations on a new deal to provide money for the day-to-day operations of Bankers Life Fieldhouse, but the board's approval of a new budget that doesn't specify any payment to the Pacers complicates the issue, as Jon Murray of the Indianapolis Star writes.
- Former Pacers guard Leandro Barbosa is still looking for a job, but Stephen Brotherston of HoopsWorld argues that he'll be a valuable addition where ever he winds up.
- The Bulls aren't bringing back Brian Scalabrine next year, but the 11-year veteran refuses to end his unlikely NBA career, as Sam Smith of Bulls.com chronicles. He has an offer from a team in Europe, and the Celtics want him to do some TV work, but Scalabrine is holding out for one more chance to play in the NBA.
Trade Notes: Howard, Sixers, Picks, Iguodala
The four-team Dwight Howard/Andrew Bynum trade continues to have reverberations around the league, as teams and players begin to figure out what happens next. Though it's no surprise, Howard remains unwilling to commit to an extension with the Lakers, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein says Howard wants to see how it goes with L.A. first, and says the Mavericks and Hawks would be fallbacks if Howard doesn't warm to the purple and gold. Here's more on the players and teams involved in the wake of the mega-deal:
- Chris Bernucca of Sheridan Hoops analyzes the Sixers' offseason as the team made a series of moves and signings this summer beyond acquiring Bynum from the Lakers.
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel has more on the conditions of the draft picks going from the Lakers and Sixers to the Magic, and our post rounding up the deal has been updated to reflect the latest details.
- Robbins adds, via Twitter, that the Nets were offering three first-round picks in their offer to the Magic last month, instead of four as we heard previously. The picks would likely have been in the high to mid-20s, Robbins says.
Earlier updates:
- Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post asked Andre Iguodala if he was pleased about joining the Nuggets, and Kiszla didn't sense much enthusiasm from Iguodala's remarks. "I'm happy to play basketball," the Team USA swingman said. "I don't care if I was playing in Alaska." Iguodala has an early termination option for 2013/14.
- Bynum's agent David Lee says his client is excited to be close to his native New Jersey, though no talks about an extension with the Sixers have begun, as Yannis Koutroupis of HoopsWorld writes. Koutroupis identifies the Hawks, Mavericks and Rockets as teams that could have the cap space and interest to sign Bynum if he tests free agency next summer.
- Magic officials never filed charges with the league stemming from their suspicion that the Nets had illegal contact with Howard this past December, but the hard feelings proved an obstacle in trade negotiations between the teams, a source told Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
Odds & Ends: Kobe, Thibodeau, Suns, Sixers
With every NBA reporter alive seemingly grabbing each player, coach or executive they can get their hands on and asking them about the Dwight Howard trade, Kobe Bryant actually offered some helpful and interesting insight. Bryant, soon to be 34, said that he will probably play "two, three more years" with the Lakers and once he is done "the team is his," undoubtedly referring to Howard (via Sean Deveney on Twitter). While hardly definitive, it's notable that Bryant has a retirement time in mind. As the reactions, analysis and quotes regarding the big trade pour in, lets look at them as well as some of the other stuff going on in the NBA:
- Per ESPN Chicago, Doc Rivers said today that he is pulling for his former assistant and now successful Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau to receive a lucrative contract extension from the team. Although "Thibs" has been relatively quiet regarding the contract situation, Rivers said he knows from experience that coaching on a one-year deal can be tough.
- Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic takes a look at what options the Suns have for their final roster spot, which will likely go to a center. While Coro puts together a sizeable list, the pickings are pretty slim.
- Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com takes an inside look at how the Andrew Bynum deal came to fruition for the 76ers, who got involved in the talks with a phone call to Orlando about the availability of Howard. Moore also clarifies, via Twitter, that Philadelphia owes the Heat a first round pick from a draft day trade before they can send one to Orlando. Both future picks are lottery protected.
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel says that Magic fans shouldn't be piling on new general manager Rob Hennigan for the final outcome of the Howard situation. Schmitz says the ire of the Magic faithful should be rightfully pointed towards Howard for creating the situation in the first place.
- Jonathan Feigen of Ultimate Rockets gives his take on where the Rockets went wrong in their D12 pursuit, and where the franchise should go from here.