Memphis Grizzlies Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Grizzlies Waive Jamaal Franklin

August 31st, 2014 at 5:07pm CST by Eddie Scarito

5:07pm: Franklin has been waived, the team confirmed via press release.

3:31pm: The Grizzlies waived Jamaal Franklin today using the stretch provision, Ronald Tillery of the Commercial Appeal reports (Twitter link). Franklin had two years remaining on his contract, with a salary of $816,482 for next season, and $947,276 for 2015/16 which was non-guaranteed. By using the stretch provision, Memphis can now spread his guaranteed salary for this coming season evenly over the next five years, as well as his cap hit.

The second-year guard out of San Diego State was the No. 41 overall pick by Memphis in the 2013 NBA Draft. In his rookie season, Franklin split time between the Grizzlies and the NBA D-League. In 21 NBA games, Franklin averaged 1.9 PPG, 1.1 RPG, and 0.3 APG. His slash line was .410/.455/1.000.

This move leaves the Grizzlies with 15 players on their preseason roster, 14 of whom have guaranteed contracts. The Grizzlies needed to waive Franklin prior to September 1st or they would have been forced to pay him his full salary during the 2014/15 season.

Western Notes: Walker, Brown, Trade Demands

August 29th, 2014 at 10:32pm CST by Cray Allred

The West will surely be ultra-competitive again next year, and there could be some shuffling in the top tier. The Rockets have had an underwhelming offseason, while the Thunder and Spurs have had relatively uneventful summers. Meanwhile the Mavericks and Clippers have retooled in the hopes of forming championship contenders. Here’s a look around the conference:

Henry Walker, formerly known as Bill Walker, is considering a camp offer from the Grizzlies, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (all Twitter links). Walker, who has played internationally since spending the 2011/12 season with the Knicks, is also receiving interest from the Kings, Pacers, and Heat.
Bobby Brown‘s contract with his Chinese team is valued at over $1MM, tweets Pick. There is still no report on how much the NBA buyout clause is for Brown, who most recently worked out for the Lakers, but one at or below the $600K teams can pay outside of the cap would fall in line with that salary.
In a subscriber-only piece, Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel wonders which star player could be next to force a trade from their current team, now that Kevin Love‘s situation has been resolved. He pegs Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, and DeMarcus Cousins as some of the more notable hypothetical candidates.

And-Ones: Fesenko, Wolves, Team USA

August 28th, 2014 at 6:25pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Free agent center Kyrylo Fesenko made a positive impression on the Wolves during summer league play, and he’s dropped 20 pounds, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Fesenko has played for the Jazz and the Pacers, and has career averages of 2.3 PPG and 2.0 RPG over 135 games played.

Here’s more from around the league:

The package that the Wolves received for Kevin Love is superior to the one that the franchise had gotten for Kevin Garnett, writes Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders. By acquiring Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett from the Cavaliers, Minnesota essentially skipped two years of being in the NBA Draft lottery, opines Koutroupis.
Bob Donewald Jr. was hired by the Grizzlies to be the head coach of their NBA D-League team, the Iowa Energy, the team announced (Twitter link). Donewald most recently served as the head coach of the Chinese National Team, and he has also worked as an assistant coach for the Cavs and Pelicans.
With each game that passes for Team USA, so does the horror of Paul George‘s injury, writes Sam Amick of USA Today. In regards to how the team is coming to terms with what happened to George, Anthony Davis said, “That was a gruesome injury (to George), and it kind of affected all of us, even guys who weren’t playing. Basketball players around the world and people around the world got affected by it. But now we know that he’s doing fine and we’ve got to keep moving forward and try to win this gold for him. … I’m hoping that (this experience) makes me take a leap coming into the season next year.”

And-Ones: Drew, Antetokounmpo, D-League

August 25th, 2014 at 10:33pm CST by Cray Allred

Former Bucks coach Larry Drew was blindsided by his ouster from Milwaukee, telling Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he was taken aback by the process. New owners Marc Lasry and Wes Edens were already in discussions with Jason Kidd, who supplanted Drew on the bench, while he was participating in rookie Jabari Parker‘s introductory press conference.

“The whole Jabari thing, putting me in that position, I don’t think it was very professional. I wish it wouldn’t have happened that way, but it did,” said Drew, who is now an assistant with the Cavs. “It caught me in a position when I least expected it. But I know how these things work. I don’t have any hard feelings, any grudges against anybody.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Thanasis Antetokounmpo‘s agent tells Marc Berman of the New York Post that the forward turned down a two-year, $550K offer to play in Italy in order to accept the $25K salary he will receive with the Knicks‘ D-League affiliate. Agent Tim Lotsos says the sacrifice was made because his client is eager to prove himself as NBA-ready. “To my surprise, he passed on it,” said Lotsos. “He’s very ambitious and determined to make the NBA. I didn’t try to force him. I wanted him to make his own decision.”
A D-League expansion draft for returning player rights will take place on September 1, reports Gino Pilato of DLeagueDigest.com. The draft will supply the Knicks‘ new affiliate with a starting roster, and each existing team will protect up to 12 current D-League players that the Westchester Knicks can’t obtain.
In the same piece, Pilato does a mock selection draft, projecting which players he sees each D-League team protecting and which players wind up in Westchester.
Plenty of people believe rookie Cavs coach David Blatt will become one of the best coaches in the league, writes Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders in his look at rising coaching names. Brigham views Mike Budenholzer, Steve Clifford, Dave Joerger, and Jeff Hornacek as fellow up-and-comers in the NBA ranks.
In a LeBron James-centric mailbag column, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel asserts that it was James’ contract preferences that led to the Cavs receiving draft picks from Miami in 2010 through a sign-and-trade, and that it was also his contract desires that prevented the Heat from receiving any picks when he returned to Cleveland this summer.

Southwest Notes: Bowles, Bzdelik, Mavs

August 23rd, 2014 at 6:11pm CST by Cray Allred

At the moment, the Southwest Division appears to be the only division in the NBA featuring all teams with playoff hopes for 2014/15. Here’s a rundown for what should be one of the most competitive groupings in the league:

Free agent Denzel Bowles will work out for the Spurs on September 7th, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). Bowles, who has spent time in the D-League and the Chinese Basketball Association, worked out for Charlotte at the end of last season but failed to earn a 10-day contract.
Jeff Bzdelik tells Ronald Tillery of Commercial Appeal [subscription-only] that he was brought to the Grizzlies as an assistant coach to focus on defense, where Memphis slipped from their elite standard last season.
In an Insider-only piece, Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com ranks the Mavs‘ re-calibrated frontcourt, featuring new arrivals Chandler Parsons and Tyson Chandler alongside Dirk Nowitzki, as the fourth-best big unit in the league.

Western Notes: Grizzlies, Thompson, Suns

August 23rd, 2014 at 8:59am CST by Eddie Scarito

The Grizzlies allowed a trade exception worth $1,160,040 to expire when they failed to use it by the end of Friday. Memphis had created the exception in the deal that sent Tony Wroten to the Sixers a year ago. It’s the second trade exception that the Grizzlies have let lapse in the past week or so, after their $1,027,424 Donte Greene trade exception expired on the 15th.

Here’s more from out west:

Mychal Thompson discussed the trade rumors this summer regarding his son, Klay Thompson. Thompson was rumored to be a key piece for the Wolves in any deal involving Kevin Love heading the Warriors. The elder Thompson said, “He was put on the table by the owner and the general manager. Jerry West and Steve Kerr pulled him off the deal,” tweets Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group.
The elder Thompson also told Leung (Twitter link), that he thought the Warriors would land Love. “I really thought [Joe] Lacob the owner was just going to veto everybody’s opinion,” Thompson said.
After their surprise success last season, very little has gone right for the Suns this offseason, writes Bob Young of the Arizona Republic. Young chronicles the franchise’s difficulties this summer, including the contract impasse with Eric Bledsoe; the failure to land Love; losing Channing Frye in free agency; and P.J. Tucker‘s arrest.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Love, Pelicans, Marc Gasol

August 22nd, 2014 at 3:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Timberwolves are making out remarkably well in their agreement to trade Kevin Love, as Hoops Rumors readers see it. The majority who voted in Thursday’s poll gave an A to Minnesota president of basketball operations Flip Saunders and his staff for their haul in the trade that can become official Saturday. It’s almost always preferable to retain a superstar, but considering Love’s apparent desire to move on from the Wolves, the team seems to have made the best of its circumstances. Here’s more on Love and the rest of the Western Conference:

Love viewed Minnesota favorably as a potential destination heading into the night he was drafted, and he’s privately maintained throughout his tenure there that he’d rather stay with a contending Wolves team than leave, as Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck details. Still, chronic losing and the club’s decision to grant Nikola Pekovic a five-year contract after refusing to give Love an extension longer than four years helped convince the star forward to push for his pending trade to the Cavs, according to Beck.
Pelicans GM Dell Demps remarked this week that his team is largely done with its moves for the summer and expressed confidence that Anthony Davis can be the cornerstone of a winning roster, as Demps said to Pelicans radio announcer Sean Kelley (transcription via Pelicans.com).
Marc Gasol isn’t necessarily in line to ink a max contract next summer in free agency, but even the sort of sub-max deals he’d probably command make it unlikely he’d sign an extension, as Chris Herrington of the Commercial Appeal explains in a subscription-only piece. Gasol becomes extension-eligible on December 12th, but there are severe financial constraints on veteran extensions under the collective bargaining agreement.

Western Rumors: Randle, Nash, Stokes

August 20th, 2014 at 6:10pm CST by Cray Allred

In an interview with Mike Trudell of Lakers.com, new head coach Byron Scott gave thorough answers on the entire Lakers roster, including this year’s No. 7 pick Julius Randle. Despite the additions of Carlos Boozer and Ed Davis to Los Angeles’ frontcourt, Scott believes in Randle’s versatility and still envisions ample playing time for the rookie. “I love those attributes, being strong, big and quick for his size,” said Scott. “Julius will get plenty of chances to play a lot of minutes. We know he’s a rookie and needs to develop, and a lot of that will come in training camp and in practice. I think he’ll do just that.” Here’s more from the around the West, including more Lakers roster talk:

While Scott believes Kobe Bryant could play beyond the next two seasons if he wants to, he isn’t as optimistic about Steve Nash‘s longevity. “With Nash, it’s going to be interesting,” Scott said. “Steve hasn’t played a lot in the last year, and the clock is ticking. I did see him working out here a couple of days ago and he looked fantastic. He says he’s pain free for the first time in a while, and hopefully he’ll be healthy, number one, and hopefully he’ll be able to provide some things for us on the offensive end especially.”
Scott also thinks Wesley Johnson could earn a significant role on the team and experience a breakout year.
The first two years of Grizzlies rookie Jarnell Stokes‘ three-year contract are fully guaranteed, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.

And-Ones: Stokes, Drew, Cavs, Lottery

August 19th, 2014 at 3:18pm CST by Chuck Myron

Steve Nash was the oldest player to appear in a game last season, a distinction he’s poised to repeat this year if he’s healthy, but he was 1 year old when the oldest person to go up and down NBA floors last year made his debut. Referee Dick Bavetta had been the dean of his profession for some time, but the 74-year-old has retired, the league announced today. As the NBA readies to go on without Bavetta for the first time since 1975, here’s the latest from around the league:

Jarnell Stokes will make $725K this season and minimum salaries thereafter in his three-year deal with the Grizzlies, according to Chris Vernon of 92.9 FM ESPN in Memphis (Twitter link). The Grizzlies used part of their mid-level exception to sign Stokes, this year’s 35th overall pick. They used most of the exception on Vince Carter, but there’s still enough left to hand out a three- or four-year deal for the rookie minimum salary for someone else, though that presumes camp invitee Patrick Christopher is on a deal that covers no more than two seasons.
The Cavs officially hired former Bucks and Hawks head coach Larry Drew as an assistant coach, the team announced. The team also promoted James Posey, who was serving as an assistant coach for Cleveland’s D-League affiliate, to head coach David Blatt‘s staff.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s statements during the 2011 lockout about a desire for competitive balance conflict with his apparent openness to draft lottery reform, as SB Nation’s Tom Ziller argues. Lengthening the odds that the teams with the worst records would come away with the top pick each year does little to further the goal of parity, as Ziller points out.

Jarnell Stokes Signs With Grizzlies

August 18th, 2014 at 6:27pm CST by Eddie Scarito

6:27pm: Stokes can become a restricted free agent at the end of the deal, reports Tillery in a separate article, since the third year of the deal is a team option.

5:49pm: Jarnell Stokes has signed his rookie contract with the Grizzlies, reports Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal (Twitter links). The team has confirmed the deal via a press release. The agreement is for three years, and approximately $2.5MM, notes Tillery. Stokes had reportedly been waiting to finalize his contract to give Memphis more flexibility in pursing free agents this summer.

The 6’9″ power forward was selected by the Jazz with the No. 35 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, then was traded to the Grizzlies for a 2016 second-rounder that same night. Stokes was seen as a possible late first round selection leading up to the draft, and the Grizzlies may have gotten a steal by picking him up for a future second round pick. The 2016 pick that Memphis is sending to Utah is the more favorable of the second-round picks that the Raptors and Celtics sent to the Grizzlies in previous trades.

Stokes averaged 15.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game for the Volunteers this past season. His career numbers were 13.0 PPG, 9.6 RPG, and 1.1 BPG. His career slash line was .530/.000/.628. Stokes had talked with Zach Links of Hoops Rumors for our Prospect Profile Series prior to the draft about his career goals and skills.