Western Notes: Bledsoe, Jazz, Barton, Scott
Eric Bledsoe made his first public comments regarding his free agency status to Fox TV Birmingham, saying he feels the Suns are “using rules against me” (hat tip to Jude LaCava of Fox 10 Phoenix, Twitter link), Bledsoe’s remark further indicates a seemingly sour feeling between the two camps. Here’s a look at the latest from all three of the Western Conference’s divisions:
- The Jazz are set to hire Patrick Beilein to work as an assistant coach on Quin Snyder‘s staff, reveals Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Beilein is the son of University of Michigan head coach John Beilein.
- Will Barton‘s $900K deal with the Blazers is now fully guaranteed, reports Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com. Portland had until July 25th to waive Barton without being on the hook for his entire salary but chose to keep the combo guard on their roster.
- Jabari Davis of Basketball Insiders recaps the path that the Lakers took en route to negotiating terms with Byron Scott on a head coaching gig. Davis also examines how Scott’s coaching style might mesh with the current state of Los Angeles’ roster.
- While former Mavs forward Shawn Marion would like to secure a deal with a team for the upcoming season, he doesn’t want to force the issue and land in an undesirable situation, passes along Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. “If I see something really comfortable, then I’ll do it,” Marion told Sefko. “Right now, I’m just staying with my [newborn] son and relaxing. It’s only July, man. We got two more months. We’ll just wait and see how it works out.”
Pacific Notes: Boozer, Marshall, Casspi
While the Lakers have had an underwhelming offseason, Mark Whicker of the Los Angeles Daily News thinks that the hiring of Byron Scott for head coach could at least end the “nightmare” in Los Angeles. Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak was surprised when his team wound up winning the rights to Carlos Boozer, figuring another club would come in with a higher bid than the $3.251MM the Lakers put up, notes Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
- Kupchak also acknowledged the downside of the move, which largely forced the team to waive Kendall Marshall, tweets Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
- The Kings skirted the tax line when they decided to wait until Omri Casspi cleared waivers and sign him rather than submit a claim, but they gave serious thought to making that claim anyway and absorbing the extra cost, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Lakers, Byron Scott Negotiating Deal
7:44pm: The Lakers have yet to make a formal offer, but Scott is their top candidate and they’ve begun negotiations with the hope of striking a deal with him soon, according to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. Scott is believed to have been vacationing in the Bahamas, Bresnahan also writes, which suggests that he hasn’t been directly involved in the talks.
1:58pm: The Lakers are unlikely to give Scott a deal comparable to the five-year, $25MM packages that Steve Kerr and Derek Fisher received this summer from the Warriors and Knicks, respectively, Shelburne tweets.
1:09pm: The Lakers have offered their long-vacant head coaching position to Byron Scott, and the two sides are negotiating toward a deal, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Scott has seemingly been the front-runner in the team’s search for the past month.
Former coach Mike D’Antoni resigned April 30th, but the Lakers were never in a hurry to replace him, content to find out their position in the draft order and later see how their forays into the free agent market would turn out before making their choice. Scott, who interviewed at least three times for the job, has reportedly been out in front of a pack of other serious candidates that included Lionel Hollins, Mike Dunleavy and Alvin Gentry, all of whom also received interviews. Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis also appeared to a strong contender, though it isn’t clear whether his talks with the team had amounted to a formal interview. The Lakers also gave George Karl more consideration than previously reported, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
Scott and the Lakers are still in the early stages of negotiations, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (on Twitter). Still, the offer is the closest the Lakers have come to resolving their coaching situation since D’Antoni stepped down. The 53-year-old Scott, who was out of coaching last season after the Cavs fired him at the end of 2012/13, has been speaking with former teammate Kobe Bryant in coach/player terms of late, as Broussard reported last month. Bryant said recently that he’d welcome Scott, with whom he crossed paths on the 1996/97 Lakers, were the team to hire him. Scott is 416-521 in parts of 13 seasons as an NBA head coach.
Lakers Re-Sign Xavier Henry
JULY 25TH: The Lakers have announced the signing as official in a team release.
“Xavier earned a spot on our team last season after being a training camp invitee, and we hope he continues the dedication to improving he has displayed for us thus far,” said GM Mitch Kupchak. “When healthy, Xavier provided our team with an offensive punch, and we expect he’ll strive to add to his skillset and become a well-rounded player.”
JULY 18TH: The Lakers will re-sign swingman Xavier Henry to a minimum-salary deal, reports Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter). It appears to be a one-year arrangement, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported as the sides neared agreement (Twitter link).
The Arn Tellem client was one of a handful of successful reclamation projects for the Lakers this past season, making the opening-night roster as a camp invitee and displaying a strong ability to score, averaging 10.0 points in 21.1 minutes per contest. Both numbers were career highs, as Henry had struggled to live up to having been the 12th overall pick in 2010.
The Pacers and Heat reached out to Henry this month, according to McMenamin (Twitter link), but he planned to work out for the Lakers after exploring options around the league, and the purple-and-gold maintained interest in re-signing him. Henry had wrist and knee surgeries in April but has been expected to be ready for training camp.
And-Ones: ‘Melo, Irving, Rockets, Mavs
Carmelo Anthony spent his free agency largely debating between signing with either the Knicks or the Bulls, though the Lakers were briefly his top choice, as he told Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. New York gave him much more lucrative contract than the Bulls could have, but the star forward insisted money wasn’t his primary motivation and said he believes the Knicks are closer to contention than widely assumed, as Goodman writes. Anthony also hinted that he wants to remain with the Knicks for the rest of his career. Here’s more from around the league:
- Kyrie Irving‘s extension with the Cavs will only provide for a starting salary equal to approximately 27.5% of the cap, rather than the maximum 30%, if he triggers the Derrick Rose Rule this coming season, reports Mark Deeks of ShamSports (Twitter link). It’s similar to the concession Paul George made when he, too, signed an otherwise maximum-salary extension with the Pacers last year.
- Rockets GM Daryl Morey called the protected 2015 first-round pick he acquired from the Pelicans in the Omer Asik deal “the best draft pick in the league for someone to trade for,” as the GM said to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. It’s protected for the top three and the bottom 11 picks each year through 2018 and the top three and the bottom six picks in 2019 and 2020, as RealGM details.
- The Mavs were among the NBA teams that invited undrafted Syracuse combo forward C.J. Fair to training camp, but none of them offered any guaranteed money, which is apparently behind Fair’s decision to change agents, writes Mike Waters of The Post-Standard. Fair dropped Torrel Harris in favor of Joel Bell for his representation, as Guido Guida of La Gazzetta Dello Sport was first to report (Twitter link).
- The Knicks invited summer league power forward Cameron Moore to training camp, but he agreed to terms earlier this month with Venezia of Italy, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (on Twitter).
- Andres Nocioni has signed with Real Madrid of Spain, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The eight-year NBA veteran had reportedly been receiving interest from teams interested in bringing him back to the Association, but he’s decided to remain overseas.
Buycks Spurns NBA Offers To Play In Spain
Former Raptors point guard Dwight Buycks has signed with Valencia of Spain, the Spanish ACB league’s website announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). It’s a one-year deal, as Euroleague.net reveals. The Lakers and Clippers extended non-guaranteed invitations to Buycks for preseason camp, according to David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link), and he was close to signing with the Nuggets before they instead came to terms with Erick Green, as Pick tells Hoops Rumors. The Suns were also reportedly interested in him.
The Relativity Sports client drew offers from multiple teams overseas, but Valencia bid highest among those clubs, Pick reports (All Twitter links). It’s likely he’s receiving guaranteed salary to play in Spain, which would explain why he’s passing up a shot at continuing his NBA career. Toronto waived him this past weekend rather than guarantee his NBA minimum salary for the coming season.
Buycks saw action in just 14 games this past season, his first official NBA experience. He averaged 3.1 points and 0.7 assists in 10.4 minutes per contest for Toronto.
Pacific Notes: Lin, Kings, Sterlings
The Lakers have finally acquired Jeremy Lin after two failed attempts to land the point guard in recent years, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com. At the veteran’s introductory press conference, Los Angeles GM Mitch Kupchak told reporters including McMenamin, “The first thing I said to [Lin] when he sat down was, ‘You know, three times is a charm.'” Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Quincy Acy‘s contract was set to become fully guaranteed tomorrow, but the Kings have been granted an extension to make their decision on the small forward’s fate until August 15, reports Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (on Twitter). The deadline extension, presumably granted by Acy and his management, will give Sacramento more time to explore their options to keep the 23-year-old while avoiding the luxury tax.
- A Sacramento judge is set to make a final ruling against a citizen-led attempt to block construction of the new Kings arena, reports Dale Kasler and Ryan Lillis of The Sacramento Bee. The judge issued a temporary rejection of the lawsuit today, which is the last remaining legal barrier to the arena, which was initially approved in May.
- Donald Sterling attorney Max Blecher accused commissioner Adam Silver of having given Shelly Sterling the idea that she should take full control of the family trust to facilitate the sale of the Clippers, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com details.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Huestis, Kings, Hamilton, Hill
The idea of having Josh Huestis sign in the D-League in exchange for becoming an NBA first-round draft pick came from his representatives rather than the Thunder, agent Mitchell Butler tells SB Nation’s Mike Prada.
“This was the perfect team and the perfect storm,” Butler said. “This isn’t for everyone.”
Butler also told Prada that the Thunder haven’t said whether they plan to sign Huestis to an NBA deal next summer or at a later point. There’s more on Huestis among the latest from the Western Conference, as we detail:
- The union sees the Thunder‘s arrangement with Huestis as a positive, as interim executive director Ron Klempner said to Grantland’s Zach Lowe. “This is an example of the player flipping the script,” Klempner said. “The player essentially drafted his team.”
- Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro said he’s on the lookout for rim-protection and particularly shooting to round out the roster in an attempt to make the playoffs this season, as he told Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report.
- Richard Hamilton tells David Alarcon of HoopsHype that he’s fielded a couple of calls from NBA teams and that while he considered retirement, he’d like to return to the NBA with a contending team. The 36-year-old, who last played in 2012/13, said that the Timberwolves showed interest in signing him early last season, but he declined to specify any teams that have spoken with him more recently.
- Jordan Hill‘s two-year deal with the Lakers contains a team option for the final season, according to Mark Deeks of ShamSports.
Lakers Re-Sign Jordan Hill
JULY 23RD: The team has officially re-signed Hill, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (via Twitter), who reports that GM Mitch Kupchak called Hill a “consistent contributor” in a team release.
JULY 11TH: Free agent forward Jordan Hill has agreed to a two-year, $18MM deal to return to the Lakers, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Hill joins Nick Young, who agreed to re-sign earlier, in returning to the team, and new acquisition Jeremy Lin, whose trade was agreed upon earlier, too.
In 72 games last season, Hill averaged 9.7 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 0.8 APG while playing an average of 20.8 minutes a night. His slash line was .549/.000/.685. His career numbers over five seasons are 6.7 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 0.5 APG.
With all the deals signed today, the Lakers have all but taken themselves out of the running for Carmelo Anthony, and seems to indicate the team will focus on next summer to try to lure a big name to Los Angles. The franchise now only has their $3.27MM taxpayer mid level exception with which to pursue players unless more moves are made.
Lakers Sign Ed Davis
JULY 23RD: The deal is official, the team announced on its website, as it introduced Davis to the media today.
“Ed is a versatile, young frontcourt player who, if he continues to work hard, will be a valuable contributor,” Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak said in the team’s statement. “We look forward to him furthering his development with the Lakers and are excited by what we think he can offer our team.”
JULY 16TH: The Lakers and Ed Davis have agreed on a two-year, $2MM deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The second year of the contract will feature a player option, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter links).
Davis spent the 2013/14 campaign with the Grizzlies, where he averaged 15.2 minutes per contest over the course of 63 games. While his nightly marks of 5.7 PPG and 4.1 RPG don’t jump off the page as particularly noteworthy, Davis was quietly able to post a respectable 15.9 PER. The big man won’t necessarily fill the void created by Pau Gasol‘s departure to Chicago, but he could definitely prove to be a low-cost, efficient signing for the Lakers.
The official terms of the contract haven’t been released yet, but Davis’ salary for the upcoming season will likely be $981,084, the minimum a player of his experience can make. Otherwise, Los Angeles will need to dip into the room exception if they want to be able to ink the Landmark Sports client.
Davis’ signing will add even more youth to the Lakers’ power forward slot, which had already been set to feature promising rookie Julius Randle. Davis, who mostly played the four last season, will have a good chance to see some serious minutes on the floor for Los Angeles in 2014/15.