Clippers, Hedo Turkoglu Nearing Agreement
SEPTEMBER 5TH, 4:26pm: A signing is on track to take place next week, tweets Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times.
AUGUST 31ST, 8:57pm: The Clippers and Hedo Turkoglu are nearing agreement on a one-year, $1.4MM deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
Turkoglu didn’t play a major role in Los Angeles after getting his buyout for Orlando, but the Clippers are apparently appreciative of his veteran leadership and like what he can do in limited minutes. The 35-year-old averaged just 3.0 PPG in 10 minutes per contest across 38 games, not quite in line with his best work. For his career, the veteran has averaged 11.5 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 3.0 APG while nailing 38.2% of his shots from outside the arc.
It has been a busy end of August for the Clippers who extended coach/president Doc Rivers, shipped Jared Dudley to the Bucks, and subsequently waived the players acquired in the trade. The Clippers also re-signed Glen Davis, who, like Turkoglu, joined the club midseason.
Turkoglu will continue his career in 2014/15, but he certainly doesn’t need the money. According to Basketball-Reference, Turkoglu has banked roughly $90MM over the course of his career.
Pacific Notes: Bledsoe, Warriors, Lakers, Brown
The lack of communication between Eric Bledsoe and the Suns persists, as Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer hears it’s stretched for nearly six months (Twitter link). Suns owner Robert Sarver said in August that he hadn’t heard from Bledsoe in four months, but whatever the precise length of the silence, it doesn’t appear as though the sides are any closer to settling their differences and agreeing upon a long-term deal. The impasse leaves Bledsoe poised to sign the qualifying offer before it expires October 1st, according to Haynes, though he and the Suns have reportedly both been pursuing sign-and-trade possibilities. Just what happens with Bledsoe will help shape the Western Conference playoff race, and there’s more news from other Pacific Division clubs, as we detail:
- The Warriors are believed to be engaged in talks about an extension with Jerry West, as Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group writes amid his report on GM Bob Myers, who already agreed to an extension. The Hall-of-Famer serves as director of scouting and administration for the team, and he’s played a key role in front office decision-making. West’s existing deal is set to expire next summer, as Kawakami notes.
- Lakers executives Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak gauged whether Byron Scott‘s was willing to endure a long-term rebuilding process before hiring him as coach, as Scott tells Bill Oram of the Orange County Register, and it appears Scott will have a long leash. “I said, ‘Yeah as long as I know we’re going in the right direction and as long as I know that I’ve got the support of you guys and that we’re all in this together,’” Scott said.
- Lorenzo Brown is back on the free agent market after Italy’s Reyer Venezia voided the contract he signed with the club in July because he failed his physical, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Brown appeared in 26 games for the Sixers last season and spent summer league this year with the Clippers.
Several NBA Teams Eye Julyan Stone
Free agent Julyan Stone has workouts scheduled with the Lakers, Cavs, Clippers and Heat, and the Kings are in the mix for the point guard as well, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. The Lakers audition will be his second with the team, Charania notes via Twitter. Stone had been set to work out for the Spurs, and he did so this week, while two Chinese teams have floated lucrative offers for the 25-year-old, as Charania details.
The market seems to have quickly accelerated for the Giovanni Funiciello client who’s been without a deal for nearly two months after the Raptors let him go in July, shortly before his minimum-salary contract was to have become fully guaranteed. It appeared at the time that there was a decent chance the Raptors would sign him back on a new deal, as Charania reported then, but Toronto doesn’t appear to be in the hunt at this point.
Each of the four clubs that Charania links to Stone in his most recent report appear to have the roster flexibility necessary to provide a clear path to the opening night roster. The Heat have only 11 fully guaranteed deals, and the Cavs do as well, although Shawn Marion will presumably have a full guarantee on his contract once he signs, and one of Cleveland’s partially guaranteed contracts belongs to Anderson Varejao. The Kings have 12 fully guaranteed deals, but they’ve agreed to trade Jason Terry, who has one of them, to the Rockets, likely for non-guaranteed salary in return. The Clippers and Lakers have 13 full guarantees apiece. The Spurs have 14 full guarantees and three partial guarantees, but they can offer more money than any of the other clubs, since they still have their $5.305MM non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception available. The Kings have their $2.077MM biannual exception, while Stone’s remaining suitors are limited to the minimum salary.
Eastern Notes: Williams, Heat, Bucks
Lou Williams has a renewed sense of purpose this season after being traded to the Raptors, Holly MacKenzie of NBA.com writes. On joining Toronto, Williams said, “I think one of the best benefits of it is being in a position where you feel wanted. When they traded for me and had the conversation, they want me here. It wasn’t a money thing. It wasn’t just something to do. They felt they had a void they needed to fill coming off the bench and I’m excited to help. I feel wanted. I feel like I have a responsibility with this basketball team and that’s the best way I can operate.”
Here’s more from around the east:
- The Heat announced that former head coach and longtime assistant coach Ron Rothstein has retired from coaching. Miami also announced that assistant coach Bob McAdoo will become a scout for the team as well as a community liaison. “Both Ron and Bob were instrumental in the success of the Heat and their contributions to our three championships cannot be overstated,” said team President Pat Riley. “They are Heat lifers and I’m happy that they will continue to be an important part of the organization as they evolve into their new roles within the Heat family.”
- Howard Eisley will be joining coach Randy Wittman‘s staff with the Wizards, the team announced. Eisley has spent the last four seasons as an assistant for the Clippers.
- Marc Lasry, the co-owner of the Bucks, thinks that it will take three to five years to turn around the franchise’s fortunes, Don Walker of the Journal-Sentinel writes.
Western Notes: Gobert, Faried, Udoh, Pelicans
The Jazz have a group of promising young big men that includes Derrick Favors and Trevor Booker, as well as Enes Kanter, who’s up for a rookie scale extension. Rudy Gobert didn’t see much playing time last season, but he’s put his offseason improvement on display in the FIBA World Cup this week, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe chronicles.
“We have really high hopes for him,” Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey said. “The tools Rudy has from a height and length standpoint are obvious, and he really likes basketball. A motivated seven-footer is a good place to start.”
Gobert is still a long way off, but it’ll be interesting to see how his development plays into the team’s negotiations with Kanter. Here’s more from the West:
- Kenneth Faried, who’s also extension-eligible, expressed a desire this week to remain with the Nuggets, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com observes (Twitter links). The Thad Foucher client has only helped his stock with Team USA as he’s emerged as a game-changer in the FIBA World Cup.
- The Cavs, Bulls and Kings all had interest in signing Ekpe Udoh, but the chance to play for Doc Rivers on a winning team that emphasized defense persuaded him to choose the Clippers instead, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Playing time was also a consideration, agent Michael Silverman tells Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
- Omer Asik‘s arrival in New Orleans sets the Pelicans up for a drastic improvement defensively and figures to help boost the darkhorse MVP candidacy of Anthony Davis, as Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com examines in an Insider-only piece.
Clippers Sign Chris Douglas-Roberts
2:54pm: The Clippers made the signing official, making a formal announcement.
2:17pm: The deal has been expected to be for one year, writes Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com, and the same is true of the agreement that Turkoglu is nearing with the team. That’ll help the Clippers squeeze a 15th player onto their roster under their hard cap, since one-year deals for the minimum salary only go on the team’s books for $915,243, the equivalent of the two-year veteran’s minimum, even if the player has more years of service. The league pays the rest.
1:59pm: The Clippers will sign free agent swingman Chris Douglas-Roberts, tweets Dan Woike of the Orange County Register. Woike reported earlier this week that the sides were close to a deal, and last week USA Today’s Sam Amick identified the Clippers as an interested party. It’ll almost certainly be a minimum-salary arrangement, since that’s all the Clippers can give, though it would seem there’s a strong chance it’ll be fully guaranteed, like the deal the team reached today with Ekpe Udoh.
Douglas-Roberts reportedly worked out for the Heat, so that means the Clips have taken another player from Miami’s list of considerations after doing the same with Udoh. The Hornets didn’t appear too interested in re-signing Douglas-Roberts in spite of the extensive role he played for Charlotte after he signed in December as a midseason injury replacement. The Creative Artists Agency client averaged 6.9 points in 20.7 minutes per game and made a career-high 38.6% of his three-point attempts last season, his fifth on an NBA roster.
The move gives the Clippers agreements with 14 players, 13 of whom have guaranteed deals. The team has also apparently been close to signing Hedo Turkoglu over the past few days and has been linked to Ray Allen. In any case, the Clippers can afford to carry a full 15-man roster if they choose after having waived and stretched Carlos Delfino and Miroslav Raduljica last week.
Clippers Sign Ekpe Udoh
2:53pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
11:58am: The Clippers and free agent big man Ekpe Udoh have reached agreement on a one-year deal, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). It’ll be fully guaranteed for the minimum salary, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The four-year veteran’s $981,084 pay will count for the $915,243 two-year veteran’s minimum on the team’s books since the contract will only cover one season, and the league will pick up the rest.
Udoh met with the Clippers last week, as USA Today’s Sam Amick reported. His visit took place the same day the team sent Jared Dudley to Milwaukee for Miroslav Raduljica and Carlos Delfino, whose salaries could be more easily waived and stretched to create room under the hard cap for Udoh and others. The release of Dudley and Raduljica on Friday left the Clippers will 11 players, and Monday they added DeAndre Liggins on what’s presumably a non-guaranteed camp deal. The Clips are also apparently close to deals with Chris Douglas-Roberts and Hedo Turkoglu, and they have just enough cap flexibility and room on the roster to sign them both to guaranteed deals for the minimum. The club also seems to have interest in Ray Allen, but signing him would probably necessitate waiving Liggins, the only Clipper without a fully guaranteed deal, before opening night.
The Clippers appear to be circling back to Udoh after he was reportedly close to a deal with the team in July before Glen Davis re-signed. The Heat were also considering Udoh, a Chris Luchey client, but the Bucks seemed to have little interest in keeping him, declining to make a qualifying offer in June and renouncing his rights the next month. He was in and out of the lineup last season, averaging 19.1 minutes per game despite starting 14 contests. The 6’10” Udoh put up 3.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per appearance.
Eastern Rumors: Dudley, Sims
Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski tells Marc Stein of ESPN.com that he plans to play Derrick Rose in three consecutive days of international pool play, an encouraging sign of his confidence in the point guard’s conditioning and progress. Here’s more from around the East:
- Jared Dudley tells Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he’s ready to prove himself on the Bucks, after being traded there from the Clippers last week. “Going from a contender to a team that’s rebuilding, to me that really doesn’t matter,” Dudley said. “As a professional, you’ve got to come in with the right mind-set and play in the right way.”
- Dudley also tells Gardner that his play suffered last season while he played through knee injuries. “We had so many injuries. J.J. [Redick] was out; Matt Barnes was out. Basically [coach Doc Rivers] wanted me to fight through it,” said Dudley. “I told him I could, I just wouldn’t be 100%. I think what I did was give him a body to hold the minutes down until those guys got back. For me personally, I might have suffered. But from the team standpoint we were able to get that three spot (playoff seeding) we needed to have. When you look back, would I have done it different? Maybe. But that was just me trying to give my body for a new team and a new coach.”
- Michael Kaskey-Blomain of The Philadelphia Inquirer doesn’t believe Henry Sims will become a starting-caliber center, but thinks starting Sims on the 2014/15 Sixers could help him develop into a quality rotation player, while also aiding in the development of Nerlens Noel, who would spend more time at power forward as a result.
California Notes: Warriors, Crawford, Nash
The NBA landscape in California has undergone quite the transformation in recent years. In the past, there have been long stretches with the Kings near the top of the division, while the Warriors and Clippers have often scraped the bottom. Currently, Golden State and the formerly hapless Los Angeles franchise have established themselves as perennial playoff teams, while Sacramento underwhelms at the bottom of the division. The Lakers’ decline might turn out to be the most startling development, especially if the purple and gold don’t emerge from their downturn in the next couple seasons. Here’s a rundown of California rumblings this evening:
- Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle confirms that the contracts of Warriors camp invites James McAdoo and Mitchell Watt are partially guaranteed.
- Agent Andy Miller has already signaled Jamal Crawford‘s interest in signing an extension when he becomes eligible next summer, and it sounds like the reigning Sixth Man of the Year will have a friendly face on the other side of the negotiating table. Crawford has a longstanding relationship with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer based on their Seattle connections, as Crawford details to Jeff Caplan of NBA.com. “We’ve done a lot of [charity] events together in Seattle, so I’ve known him before he was actually the owner,” Crawford said. “We were texting throughout the year and emailing each other and staying in contact and continuing to work together with charities around Seattle. It’s exciting. I don’t know how many people have actually known their owner before they actually played for the team they were on. So it’s pretty cool.”
- Despite some thought given by the Lakers to use the stretch provision on Steve Nash, the deadline to execute the maneuver came and went without Los Angeles doing so. Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times reports that the team was still considering stretching Nash’s deal before its top free agent targets of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Bosh decided to sign elsewhere, eliminating the team’s need to gain cap flexibility from such a move.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Rondo Tells Celtics He Wants Out
2:58pm: An ESPN spokesperson released a statement to Hoops Rumors via email explaining why the video was removed.
“Around the Horn producers felt they had put Jackie in a difficult position since the discussion was being characterized externally as reporting rather than as an informed conversation among our panelists. For this reason, the decision was made to remove the video,” the statement read.
MONDAY, 9:42am: ESPN appears to have removed the video that featured MacMullan’s comments from the “Around the Horn” YouTube account, though it doesn’t look like the network has given a reason just yet.
SUNDAY, 10:51pm: A spokeswoman for Rondo’s agent, Bill Duffy, told Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald that both men deny that the guard has demanded a trade.
10:05am: Rajon Rondo has informed the Celtics that he wants out of Boston, as ESPNBoston.com writer Jackie MacMullan said in a recently published video featuring excerpts from the ESPN show “Around the Horn” (hat tip to Jay King of MassLive.com). In the video clip, MacMullan responded to a question about whether or not Boston should trade Rondo, to which she answered, “Oh, I hope so. Just get it done. And it will happen because he’s told them he wants out. And no one believes me, but that’s the truth.”
This conflicts with previous reports that Rondo was content in Boston. Rondo had been quoted as saying, “I don’t like change much” and “I wouldn’t mind staying here the rest of my career,” writes Jay King of MassLive.com. The Celtics organization has also maintained that they intend to keep Rondo, in part because they’re eager to see how he plays at the beginning of this season, when he’ll be more than a year and a half removed from tearing his right ACL. If Rondo shows he’s still capable of performing at his peak level, then the team could potentially garner a larger return for their star player.
If Rondo presses the issue and the Celtics are forced to trade him prior to the season, the Kings appear to be the number one suitors for Rondo’s services, MacMullan notes. The Kings have enough enticing pieces to catch Boston’s interest, but according to MacMullan, Rondo has already told the Kings that he would not re-sign with them. It remains to be seen if Sacramento would be willing to make the deal knowing that Rondo intends to leave as a free agent next summer. The Kings were willing to trade for Kevin Love without such assurances, so it’s possible they could take the same gamble with Rondo.
During the video, the potential scenario for Rondo to join the Clippers was broached, to which MacMullan responded, “He [Doc Rivers] doesn’t like Rondo, remember that. I mean, he’s done with Rondo. They went a good, long way together, but that guy — Rondo drives him nuts. And then (the Clippers have) Chris Paul anyway, they don’t need him.”
As for the rest of the potential trade market for Rondo, MacMullan speculated that teams like the Knicks, Rockets, and Mavericks would be interested, but wouldn’t be able to offer Celtics GM Danny Ainge enough to get a deal done. She also listed the Lakers as a possibility, though Rondo might not be willing to re-sign with them either. The other possibility she raised was a sign-and-trade deal with the Suns for Eric Bledsoe, but he’s also looking for a max contract, which the Celtics would most likely be hesitant to agree to.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.