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Central Notes: Bucks, Jackson, Turner

September 18th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Bucks signed Greg Monroe to a max contract this summer, but he’s probably not the best player on Milwaukee’s roster, Shaun Powell of NBA.com posits as he examines the team’s offseason. Still, bringing him aboard did much to enhance the franchise’s image, and while the Bucks don’t have a realistic shot at Kevin Durant next summer, their standing with top free agents around the league has improved, Powell believes. It worked out well enough for GM John Hammond to receive an extension this week, so while we wait to see if Milwaukee can keep it up, see more from the Central Division:

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Pacers Sign C.J. Fair For Camp

September 16th, 2015 at 2:18pm CST by Eddie Scarito

SEPTEMBER 16TH, 2:18pm: The signing has taken place, though the team has made no official announcement, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). It’s non-guaranteed with limited injury protection, Pincus adds, so it’s an Exhibit 9 contract.

SEPTEMBER 10TH, 5:56pm: The Pacers have agreed to a deal with unrestricted free agent small forward C.J. Fair, agent Joel Bell tells Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). It is a one year, minimum salary arrangement notes Charania.

Fair, 23, went undrafted out of Syracuse in 2014, after averaging 16.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 37.8 minutes per contest as a Senior. His career collegiate numbers were 11.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 0.8 assists to accompany a slash line of .462/.343/.723. The forward attended training camp with Indiana last season, though he was unable to secure a spot on the team’s regular season roster. Fair spent the remainder of the 2014/15 season with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA D-League.

The forward is a longshot to make the team’s opening night roster, with the Pacers currently having 15 players possessing fully guaranteed deals. He will compete with Glenn Robinson III, Solomon Hill, Chase Budinger, and C.J. Miles, who are all in the mix at small forward behind Paul George, who is also expected to see minutes at the four this season.

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Pacers Owner In Legal Fight With Family Over Team

September 14th, 2015 at 1:44pm CST by Chuck Myron

Pacers owner Herb Simon is pursuing legal means to keep the estate of his late brother and his brother’s widow from claiming part ownership of the team, reports Mark Alesia of the Indianapolis Star. Simon and his brother, Melvin, who died in 2009, were once co-owners of the team. Herb Simon has asked a court to declare that neither Melvin’s estate nor Bren Simon, his widow, has any financial state in the team, Alesia writes.

Herb Simon states in court documents that he has been trying to resolve a dispute between Bren Simon and Melvin Simon’s children since Melvin’s death, as Alesia details. Bren Simon is also involved in a suit in which she’s seeking to recover more than $21MM in taxes she paid to the IRS in protest, according to Alesia. The IRS contends that money that Melvin Simon received in a reorganization of Pacers ownership shortly before his death was a gift, Alesia writes. The brothers had agreed at that point that Melvin Simon would not have to fund the team’s losses and was “released from personal guarantees,” as Alesia recounts.

The Pacers are worth $830MM, according to annual valuations that Forbes magazine released in January. Forbes pegged the franchise value at just $281MM in December 2009, a few months after Melvin Simon’s death.

Family fights for control of NBA franchises are nothing new. Pelicans owner Tom Benson retains control of the team after part of his family reportedly ordered him to undergo psychological competency testing. A judge ruled the other way in the battle for the Clippers, upholding Shelly Sterling’s right to sell the team to Steve Ballmer.

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Eastern Notes: Bullock, Pistons, Pacers

September 13th, 2015 at 9:13pm CST by Will Joseph

Reggie Bullock, a solid shooter who was traded to the Pistons during the summer, believes it will be his defense that helps him stick with Detroit, Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes. Bullock is one of 17 players with a fully guaranteed deal with the Pistons, as our roster count shows. In a crowded wing field, Langlois adds, Bullock is likely the best shooter of those on the bubble for the last spot or two.

Here’s more news from around the Eastern Conference:

  • Speaking of Detroit, the Pistons, after some decisions during the summer, now resemble the team coach/executive Stan Van Gundy wanted to create when he took over two years ago, Shaun Powell writes in his 30 teams in 30 days series for NBA.com. By subtracting Greg Monroe and, perhaps, overspending on Reggie Jackson, the Pistons have a very athletic and young core. With that, Powell believes the Pistons are in position to make a decent playoff run this season.
  • Continuing his series with a look at the Pacers, Powell writes that Indiana is likely in what’s considered no-man’s land in the league: in between good and really bad. While the Pacers’ addition of Monta Ellis should help, Powell writes that Ellis is only a temporary solution. That’s because, as Powell points out, Ellis is not the most efficient shooter and he’s with his third team in four years.
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Pacers Notes: George, D-League, Ellis

September 13th, 2015 at 2:00pm CST by Will Joseph

Owning the D-League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants gives the Pacers a notable advantage because the affiliate is only about two hours away, Scott Agness of VigilantSports.com writes. The Pacers want uniformity, Agness adds, and by now owning the team, they’ll be in charge of decisions and be able to have a coaching staff that runs a similar scheme. The Pacers made the purchase official earlier this week.

Here’s more out of Indiana:

  • The success of the Pacers‘ upcoming season largely hinges on whether or not Paul George can be the player he was before he broke his leg, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders writes. Monta Ellis, who signed a four-year deal with the Pacers, is likely more talented than anyone who George previously played with , Hamilton adds. Therefore, the addition of Ellis should help George have a big season and the pairing of the two will likely lead the Pacers back to the playoffs, Hamilton writes.
  • The problem with the Pacers, however, as the New York Post’s Tim Bontemps points out on Facebook, is a lack of depth up front. The Pacers face a gaping hole in the frontcourt without Roy Hibbert, who is now with the Lakers, and veteran leader David West, who turned down a $12.6MM player option to sign with the Spurs for the minimum, Bontemps adds.
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Eastern Notes: Pacers, Knicks, Kaun

September 9th, 2015 at 9:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

One of the main reasons that the Pacers decided to forge ahead with the purchase of the D-League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants was the rising salaries of NBA players, Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star relays (Twitter links). Team owner Herb Simon said that the Pacers will need young players to go along with the higher paid players on the roster, and that those young players would need development, which purchasing the Mad Ants would help facilitate, Buckner adds.

Here’s more out of the Eastern Conference:

  • The Knicks are unquestionably a better team than a season ago, but just about every other team at the bottom of the Eastern Conference also improved this offseason, opines Tim Bontemps of the New York Post (Facebook link). Bontemps also noted that he expects New York to struggle to compete for the final playoff spot in the East, which would result in the possibility that the team would look to deal small forward Carmelo Anthony to a contender at the trade deadline.
  • The majority of the Pistons‘ roster is now comprised of players acquired by executive/coach Stan Van Gundy, and this season’s focus will be in determining which of those players will have long-term futures with the team, writes Shaun Powell of NBA.com in his 30 Teams, 30 Days series.
  • Sasha Kaun‘s two-year deal with the Cavaliers will see him earn $1,276,000 in 2015/16 and $1,333,240 during the final season, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Both seasons are fully guaranteed, Pincus adds. Reports initially conflicted on whether the contract would include a player option, and Pincus confirms that it does not.
  • Kendall Marshall will earn approximately $2.1MM this season courtesy of his deal with the Sixers, and his salary is fully guaranteed, Pincus tweets.
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Pacers Purchase D-League Team

September 9th, 2015 at 12:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder
12:57pm: The 11 teams without D-League affiliates will use the system put in place a year go for instances in which the Mad Ants, who had been the only shared affiliate last season, had no room left on their roster, the NBA announced via press release (Twitter link via the Timberwolves). So, if one of the 11 NBA teams without affiliates wants to make an assignment, the D-League will present that team with a list of D-League clubs willing to take the assigned player, and the NBA team will have its pick. If no D-League clubs want to take the player, he’ll be assigned based on a lottery.
12:49pm: The D-League indicates via Twitter that the Pacers will indeed use the Mad Ants as their one-to-one affiliate this year.
12:37pm: The purchase is official, the Pacers announced. Indiana will run both the business and the basketball operations for the D-League club.
The Pacers also named Brian Levy the GM of the Mad Ants, the team’s statement revealed. Levy had been the assistant GM of the Suns D-League affiliate.
“Owning the Mad Ants will be an integral part to the development of our young talent and we’ll have the ability to institute the same offensive and defensive systems and create a winning basketball culture across the state of Indiana,” Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird said. “We are excited to build on the team’s success in Fort Wayne while using it as a training ground for players, coaches and front office personnel.”
Still unclear is whether the Pacers will use the Mad Ants as their exclusive, one-to-one affiliate this season, and if so, what the 11 NBA teams remaining without a one-to-one affiliate will do. Johnson hears it’s likely it will involve a system in which those 11 teams will assign players to various affiliates based on a lottery.
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 8:09am: The sale will be announced in a press conference set for 12:30pm Central, sources told WPTA-TV in Fort Wayne and a source close to the Mad Ants confirmed to Reggie Hayes of the News-Sentinel (hat tip to Johnson). Indeed, the Pacers website indicates a “major announcement” regarding the Mad Ants is set for today. It’s still unclear if a one-to-one affiliation between the Pacers and Mad Ants will be in place for the coming season.
12:53pm: The sale could be delayed until the 2016/17 season to make sure everything is in order, Johnson tweets.
AUGUST 1ST, 12:12pm: The Pacers are expected to purchase the D-League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants but the details are still being worked out, which has delayed an official announcement, according to Adam Johnson of the D-League Digest (Twitter links). It’s unclear how this will affect the 11 NBA teams who do not have a D-League affiliate, since the Mad Ants are the only unaffiliated team in the league, but the NBA may use a flex assignment system, Johnson adds (additional Twitter links).
A flex assignment system was already in place to accommodate assignments to the Mad Ants, as SeaDubsCentral.com explains. Under that system, the D-League tried to find other teams willing to accept a player from an unaffiliated team if Fort Wayne already had a maximum four NBA players on assignments or two assigned players at the player’s position. The independent NBA team could then choose which D-League team to send that player to. If no D-League team stepped forward to take the player, a lottery system was used to find him a landing spot.
The 11 remaining teams without an affiliate are the Wizards, Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Timberwolves, Bucks, Clippers, Nuggets, Bulls, Hornets, Hawks and Nets.
Logistically, the move makes sense for the Pacers and Mad Ants. Fort Wayne is an approximate two hour drive from Indianapolis and the Pacers can easily shuttle players back and forth. It’s also reasonable to suggest the Mad Ants would forge a tighter bond with their fans by having players on Indiana’s roster gaining experience with an in-state affiliate.
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Eastern Notes: Smith, Johnson, Nets

September 8th, 2015 at 10:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

J.R. Smith‘s two-year contract with the Cavaliers has become fully guaranteed for the 2015/16 season since he remained on Cleveland’s roster through Monday, as is shown by our schedule of salary guarantee dates, a date first reported by Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The 29-year-old’s pact had an initial partial guarantee of $2MM included at the time of signing. Smith’s unusual deal also includes a $2.15MM partial guarantee on the full $5.4MM value of next year’s salary, which will become fully guaranteed if he is still a member of the Cavs past September 7th, 2016.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Heat shooting guard Tyler Johnson has been cleared to return to full basketball activities, the team announced (via Twitter). The 23-year-old suffered a broken jaw back in July during Orlando Summer League play. Johnson, 23, will likely need a full training camp in to help him secure a regular season roster spot with the team since Miami has a roster count of 19, including 12 fully guaranteed pacts. The guard’s $845,059 salary for 2015/16 is partially guaranteed for $422,530.
  • David West ‘s decision to jump ship and sign with the Spurs this offseason was the final push that the Pacers required to hit the reset button and begin a retool of the team, Mark Montieth of NBA.com writes in his mailbag. Indiana has added eight new players to its roster this offseason as a result, including Chase Budinger, Toney Douglas, Monta Ellis, Jordan Hill, Glenn Robinson III, and rookies Myles Turner, Joseph Young, and Rakeem Christmas.
  • Former Nets majority owner Bruce Ratner’s Forest City Enterprises made a capital call today worth $26.8MM in order to preserve its 20% ownership stake in the team, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com relays (Twitter links). Ratner’s group was facing a deadline of today to come up with the funds or have its ownership stake reduced to approximately 8%, Mazzeo notes. Mikhail Prokhorov is in the process of working toward a deal that would give him full ownership of both the team and the Barclays Center.
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Eastern Notes: Beal, Pacers, Celtics

September 6th, 2015 at 6:15pm CST by Will Joseph

Bradley Beal is a very talented player with a lot of upside and one who will receive a maximum deal from a different team if the Wizards don’t sign him to a max extension, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders opines. Hamilton takes into account the expected rise in the league’s salary cap and suggests that Beal is likely worth a large contract because of the league’s current market. Our own Chuck Myron recently examined Beal’s extension candidacy. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported in May that the Wizards were committed to paying him the max, but talks didn’t really begin until mid-July, and the sides apparently met with conflicting desires.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • The Pacers, with depth in the frontcourt, don’t appear to be a good potential trade partner with the Suns for  Markieff Morris, who issued a trade demand, Scott Agness of VigilantSports.com writes. The four-year, $32MM extension that Morris signed last fall kicks in for this coming season, but a lack of communication between Morris and the team indicates that the relationship will be extremely difficult to repair. For the Pacers, landing Morris would be worth looking into in exchange for a bench player and a second-round pick, Agness adds, but that package would likely not be enough to reel him in.
  • The main problem with the Celtics heading into this season, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com writes, is the team lacks an elite star. Forsberg compares this group of Celtics to last year’s Hawks and adds that although Atlanta had a remarkable season without a star, it ultimately ran out of gas without a big-time player.
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Los Angeles Rumors: Bryant, Hibbert, Young, Pierce

September 5th, 2015 at 6:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kobe Bryant’s continued presence on the Lakers’ roster has kept the franchise in a holding pattern, Shaun Powell of NBA.com opines. Bryant’s $25MM contract this season hampered them from signing a top-level free agent and none of them wanted to join the Lakers anyway just to play one season with Bryant, Powell continues. Bryant, who might retire at the end of the season, could play a valuable role in the rebuilding process by mentoring his younger teammates, Powell adds.

There’s more out of Los Angeles:

  • Roy Hibbert’s lack of speed could be a larger liability in the Western Conference, argues J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. The Lakers acquired Hibbert from Indiana in a July 9th deal, sending a future second-round draft pick to the Pacers in return. While Hibbert may increase the Lakers’ talent level, his plodding style of play could leave him lagging behind other teams in the conference, and Michael fears that coach Byron Scott may be stubborn enough to try to match him up with players such as the Warriors’ Draymond Green.
  • Nick Young of the Lakers and Paul Pierce of the Clippers are among the players projected to decline next season by Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders. Greene expects Young’s minutes, shots and overall role to regress with the addition of Lou Williams and D’Angelo Russell as well as Bryant’s return from injury. The writer expects Pierce, who left the Wizards to sign with the Clippers as a free agent, to have his first season averaging below double figures in scoring. Also on Greene’s list are the Pistons’ Brandon Jennings, the Nets’ Joe Johnson, the Bulls’ Pau Gasol, the Hawks’ Kyle Korver, the Spurs’ Manu Ginobili, the Raptors’ Terrence Ross and the Heat’s Dwyane Wade.

Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.

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