Odds & Ends: Iverson, World Peace, McNeal
Celtics second round pick Colton Iverson is working hard in Turkey in an effort to get himself in position to jump to the NBA, writes Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders. “It’s great to know that they’re still supporting me, watching me evaluating me, helping me think about ways that I can better,” Iverson said. “I know they’re really invested in me right now; I am going to try and put in the hard work and do everything I can to be ready, when they are ready for me be to be ready for them. I am going to keep working every day. Knowing that they have my back and are supporting me right now is a great motivation and I’ll keep working harder than ever before.” More from around the NBA..
- It sounds very unlikely that the Nets will make a run at keeping Metta World Peace in New York City, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (on Twitter) says Brooklyn has zero interest. MWP probably doesn’t mind since he reportedly has his eye on the Thunder, Heat, and Spurs.
- Jerel McNeal is back with the Bakersfield Jam of the D-League, a source tells Gino Pilato of D-League Digest. McNeal played in China earlier this season for Zhejiang Chouzhou and averaged 21.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in 15 games. Last season for Bakersfield, the Marquette averaged 18.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 44 games. He also earned a call-up with the Jazz at the end of March.
- Expect the Clippers to make a move on another player or two during buyout season, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Doc Rivers has said that he will continue to monitor the market, even after picking up Glen Davis.
- Lakers newcomer Kent Bazemore used to get attention for his enthusiasm on the bench, but now he’s getting attention through his strong play, writes Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. The guard has averaged 16 points and 31 minutes in two games with L.A.
Clippers Interested In Metta World Peace
Metta World Peace‘s buyout from the Knicks is expected to become official today, and the Clippers have interest in signing him as a free agent, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Amick cautions that it’s not a “slam dunk” that the former Ron Artest will wind up back in L.A. The Clippers still have a pair of open roster spots after signing Glen Davis today to get back to the league-minimum 13 players.
The Clippers would be limited to offering World Peace the minimum salary. He’d help shore up depth along a front line that lost reserves Antawn Jamison and Byron Mullens at the trade deadline. It would be a return to familiar territory for the 34-year-old, who spent the last four seasons in L.A. with the Lakers.
World Peace took to Twitter to reveal that he’s already put pen to paper on his buyout agreement with the Knicks, so assuming the team makes an announcement today, he’ll be set to clear waivers on Wednesday. It seems unlikely that any team will submit a waiver claim for the 15th-year veteran’s contract, which pays him $1.59MM this season and includes a player option for slightly more next season.
Grizzlies, Knicks, Clippers Eye Lester Hudson
The Grizzlies, Knicks and Clippers have expressed interest in Chinese league guard Lester Hudson, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.com. Hudson is still playing with the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers in the Chinese Basketball Association postseason, but he’ll be avaiable to return stateside before the conclusion of the NBA’s regular season.
Hudson, who’s played parts of three seasons in the NBA, has been a standout in China this year, averaging 26.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 5.0 assists for the team with the second best record in the league. It’s the third straight strong showing in China for the 29-year-old who spent camp this past fall with the Jazz.
The former second-round pick made his most significant impact in the NBA in 2011/12, the last time he appeared during the regular season. Hudson averaged 12.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 24.2 minutes per contest in a 13-game stint with the Cavs. Cleveland elected not to re-sign him for the season after his first 10-day contract expired, instead offering only another 10-day deal. That drew the ire of agent Keith Glass, who rebuffed the Cavs when they put a contract that covered the rest of the season on the table after the second 10-day was up. Hudson wound up inking for the rest of the year with Memphis.
Glen Davis Signs With Clippers
The Clippers have officially announced their signing of Glen Davis. The team was considered the frontrunner for Davis thanks to his ties to coach Doc Rivers, for whom Davis played with the Celtics, plus the power forward’s desire to play for a contender. Davis, whose contract covers the rest of the season, is the only player on the Clippers roster to have won an NBA title. A number of other teams, including the Nets, Bulls, Heat, Spurs, and Warriors, were als
o interested in signing Davis.
After deciding not to extend Sasha Vujacic another 10-day contract and trading Antawn Jamison and Byron Mullens, the Clippers roster stood at 12 before the addition of Davis. The roster flexibility was created in part to give the Clippers the opportunity to sign players on the buyout market, like Davis, who’s a client of John Hamilton of Performance Sports Management.
Orlando was trying to trade Davis at the deadline but was unable to find a taker. Davis is due the remainder of his $6.4MM salary this season and $6.6MM in 2014/15. The 28-year-old is coming off of a year in which he averaged 15.1 PPG and 7.2 RPG with a 15.0 PER in an injury-shortened 2012/13. So far in 2013/14, Davis has been hampered by injuries. He’s averaged 12.1 PPG and 6.3 RPG in 30.1 minutes per contest this season.
According to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter Link), the Magic didn’t use the stretch provision on Davis, and are taking the full hit on his $6.6MM salary during the 2014/2015 season. Kyler also tweeted that the team had told Davis last weekend of its intention to negotiate a buyout of his contract and waive him. It hasn’t been announced how much, if any, of his salary he relinquished in the buyout.
Zach Links contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports first reported that Davis had a deal, and that it covered the rest of the season. Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times noted that Davis was set to take a physical and sign with the team today (Twitter link).
Odds & Ends: Onuaku, Collins, Johnson, Faried
Danny Granger was the biggest name involved in a deadline deal and Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee explains why that might have been the case. “We’ve seen a trend toward teams being much more cautious and careful about how aggressive they are about trading for longer-term contracts, and that’s because of the luxury tax,” Tom Penn, an ESPN analyst and former Blazers vice president of basketball operations told Jones. “The other major change in the new deal is draft picks have become more coveted, and that’s because teams can no longer throw cash into trades as aggressively.” The old CBA allowed clubs to include as much as $3MM in a trade. The current CBA says that teams can only trade up to $3.2MM on the year. More from around the league..
- The Cavs announced that they have recalled Arinze Onuaku from the Canton Charge of the D-League. Onuaku has appeared in 27 games for the Charge this season with averages of 14.4 PPG, 9.7 RPG and 1.0 BPG in 24.2 MPG.
- Even with the Nets‘ signing of Jason Collins and the Clippers’ agreement with Glen Davis, those teams are still possible destinations for Ivan Johnson, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.com.
- Charania spoke with Kenneth Faried about all the trade talk surrounding him leading up to the trade deadline on Thursday. “I’m not surprised at all that my name was in trade situations, because I am a good player and people do want me,” the Nuggets forward said. “It just makes me that much more aware of how many other teams want me and like me.”
- Sometimes, the best moves are the ones that you don’t make. Bill Ingram of Basketball Insiders argues that the Rockets didn’t need a blockbuster deal at the deadline.
- Keith Schlosser of Knicks Journal wonders if the Knicks would have signed Collins.
Reactions To Jason Collins Signing With Nets
Earlier today, the Nets and Jason Collins made history together when the center inked a 10-day deal to become the first openly gay athlete in one of America’s four major leagues. Collins, 35, has been out of the NBA since completing the 2012/13 season with the Wizards but he should bring hard-nosed defense and veteran leadership to the 25-28 Nets. Here’s a look at some of the latest reaction and fallout..
- Clippers coach Doc Rivers admitted to reporters, including Jeff Caplan of NBA.com (via Twitter), that he’s been in contact with the big man about playing with Los Angeles. Rivers, who is expected to officially add Glen Davis to his roster later today, says he’s happy for Collins and glad to see him join Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in Brooklyn.
- Newly-minted commish Adam Silver issued a statement on the signing this afternoon. “Jason told us that his goal was to earn another contract with an NBA team,” Silver said. “Today, I want to commend him on achieving his goal. I know everyone in the NBA family is excited for him and proud that our league fosters an inclusive and respectful environment.”
- Collins’ deal may be making history, but Nets GM Billy King is insistent that it wasn’t about breaking barriers. “The decision to sign Jason was a basketball decision,” King said in the press release. “We needed to increase our depth inside, and with his experience and size, we felt he was the right choice for a 10-day contract.”
- Mark Madsen, Collins’ former teammate at Stanford, had dinner with the newest Net a few months ago and was struck by how good of shape he was in, tweets Bill Oram of the Orange County Register. The Nets are getting a “skilled leader, a skilled defender for a bargain price,” said the former center (link).
- Since the news broke Thursday the Nets were a potential landing spot for Collins, every player on the team has been uniform in agreeing Collins would be welcomed with open arms, writes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post.
- Sam Amick of USA Today notes that Collins has built up a reputation as a classy professional over the course of his career.
Magic Waive Glen Davis In Buyout Arrangement
SUNDAY, 10:37am: Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter Link) has heard that the Nets have been told that Davis will sign with the Clippers once he clears waivers at 5 p.m. today.
SATURDAY, 1:58pm: The Nets and Clippers remain the frontrunners to sign Davis, but the Heat might be interested in him as well, says Marc Stein of ESPN. Stein also hears that all of the teams with rumored interest in Big Baby expect him to make a decision on where to sign before the end of the weekend (Twitter links).
FRIDAY, 7:05pm: You can add the Bulls to the list of teams that may be interested in Davis, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com (Twitter Link).
6:20pm: According to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter Link), the Magic will not be using the stretch provision on Davis, and will take the full hit on his $6.6MM salary during the 2014/2015 season. Kyler also tweeted that the team had told Davis of their intention to waive him and buy out his contract last weekend.
1:51pm: Kevin Garnett is recruiting Davis as part of a hard push from the Nets to convince him to sign with Brooklyn, Wojnarowski tweets.
1:45pm: The Magic have officially announced that they’ve come to a buyout arrangment and waived Davis. It’s unclear how much of his salary Davis is relinquishing.
1:04pm: The team has yet to make an official announcement, but the release of Davis has been finalized, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link).
12:43pm: There’s a sense around the league that Davis and Rivers already have what amounts to an agreement for Big Baby to join the Clippers once he clears waivers, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com writes. The Magic are expected to officially release Davis this afternoon, tweets Brian K. Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.
THURSDAY, 9:43pm: Along with the Clippers, the Heat, Spurs, Nets, and Warriors are expressing interest in Big Baby, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports.
6:58pm: The Magic and Glen Davis have reached agreement on a buyout, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). The buyout should be official tomorrow morning.
Orlando was dangling the big man at the deadline but they were unable to find a taker. Davis was due the remainder of his $6.4MM salary this season and $6.6MM in 2014/15. The 28-year-old is coming off of a year in which he averaged 15.1 PPG and 7.2 RPG with a 15.0 PER in an injury-shortened season. So far in 2013/14, Davis has been bitten by the injury bug once again. He’s putting up 12.1 PPG and 6.3 RPG in 30.1 minutes per contest this season.
The Clippers figure to be a strong frontrunner for Davis now that he’s available, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. Los Angeles makes a lot of sense for Davis who has a relationship with Doc Rivers and presumably would like to join a contender. For Orlando, the buyout should open up playing time for Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O’Quinn as they look to the future.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Clippers, Bazemore, Jackson
Kent Bazemore is hoping he becomes more known for his play than for his sideline celebrations as a new member of the Lakers. While many fans are excited for “Bazemoring” to combine with Lakers center Robert Sacre‘s antics on the bench, coach Mike D’Antoni tells Bill Oram of The Orange County Register he wants to see what Bazemore can add on the floor. “I’ll ask him if he wants to play,” D’Antoni joked, “or sit on the bench and be that guy. We’ll ask him. See what his response will be.” Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders details how the Clippers spent money to save money in the deadline deals in which they sent Antawn Jamison and Byron Mullens to the Hawks and Sixers, respectively. These kind of maneuvers are often a sign of a team eyeing the bottom line, but the Clippers are also shaving salary in preparation for adding more talent through the buyout market.
- A GM tells Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio that he understands Pierre Jackson‘s decision to play overseas, but thinks Jackson is close to making it in the NBA and wishes the rookie would have stayed in the D-League. The same GM says that his team would have given Jackson a shot, but that their hands were tied (Twitter links). Jackson opted to sign in Turkey after he and the Pelicans couldn’t reach a deal this late into the season.
- The Rockets‘ newly acquired Jordan Hamilton tells Jason Friedman of Rockets.com that he’s excited to join Houston and try for a championship. “I’ve been watching the Rockets a lot this year,” Hamilton said after his first workout with his new team. “They’re a great team. Yes, we do have a chance to go far in the playoffs and possibly get a championship so I’m just happy to be a part of it.” The 23-year-old small forward came to the Rockets from the Nuggets in exchange for point guard Aaron Brooks in a trade earlier this week.
International Notes: Papanikolaou, Brown, Odom
The international scope of the NBA continues to grow, as teams become more and more invested in finding talent from all over the globe. Jusuf Nurkic is ranked as just the 33rd best prospect for the 2014 draft by Chad Ford of ESPN, but that’s enough potential to get eight NBA scouts in the stands at a Serbian basketball game, according to a tweet from Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. Here are some more things we have our eye on from overseas today:
- Kostas Papanikolaou is very likely to sign with the Rockets this summer, reports Givony (Twitter link). Houston owns the rights to the power forward, who is playing for FC Barcelona on the first year of a four-year deal he signed this offseason. It is likely the Rockets would have to work out a buyout with the Spanish team to bring him stateside, although the details of his contract are unclear.
- Bobby Brown could be an addition at point guard for an NBA team once his season in China ends two weeks from now, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles. The Clippers were the last team rumored as a potential destination for Brown, although that came at a time when Chris Paul was still out with a shoulder injury.
- The contract Lamar Odom recently signed with a Spanish team can be terminated in the first week by the team, and it also includes an option for a second year, per Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (Twitter links). It’s unclear if that’s a team or player option. The early termination window is there in case Odom isn’t in shape, but that does not appear to be an issue.
Pacific Notes: Clippers, Suns
Clippers coach Doc Rivers will actively recruit bought out players that L.A. wants to sign in the coming days, he tells reporters including Arash Markazi of ESPN LA. “You always do. I’m not going to say any names, but there’s more than one team that wants all these guys, at least a lot of the guys. You have to talk to them, for sure.” Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Rivers also discussed Glen Davis per Markazi, who was recently bought out and is expected to pick between the Clippers and Nets for the rest of the year. In Davis’s case, Nets veteran Kevin Garnett is reportedly in a recruitment competition with Rivers. This doesn’t surprise Rivers, who coached both players to a championship with the Celtics: “I think they always liked him. It doesn’t surprise me at all. That group won a title together and came one game away from winning another one. You’d think there’s a kinship.”
- In the same piece, Markazi suspects the Clippers need to add multiple players to bolster their title hopes, even if Davis is the most noteworthy name on the market. Injuries to J.J. Redick and the team’s parting with Byron Mullens leaves the team thin in both the backcourt and frontcourt.
- The Suns went through Thursday’s trade deadline without making any changes, and players, coaches, and management all echo their comfort level with the team as constructed to Matt Peterson of Suns.com. Head Coach Jeff Hornacek is happy the team that has surprised with success will remain intact, saying, “It’s great that the team stays the way it is and we just keep going.” GM Ryan McDonough adds, “Unless there was a superstar or a blockbuster deal, we didn’t want to affect our group because they’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do and they’ve played well. We’re 11 games over .500 as we get into late February. We didn’t want to make a move in-season just for the sake of doing something. We’re fine doing nothing because we’re happy with the guys we have.”
- In the same piece, McDonough tells Peterson that the Suns timed their trades for Gerald Green, Miles Plumlee, and two first round picks over last summer because they didn’t think picks would be as easy to come by closer to the draft. He appears to be right, considering no first round selections swapped hands in the month of February.