Southwest Notes: Calderon, Grizzlies, Evans
A few notes from around the Southwest Division.
- When the Mavericks signed free agent point guard Jose Calderon, they did so because they think he will shore up their inconsistent crunch time offense, writes ESPNDallas.com's Tim MacMahon.
- The Memphis Commercial Appeal's Geoff Calkins writes about Grizzlies newcomer Nick Calathes—who was drafted out of the University of Florida in 2009 but has yet to play a minute in the NBA—as a possible solution for the team's recent woes with backup point guards.
- Pelicans head coach Monty Williams revealed his plans to use Tyreke Evans as an offensive weapon off the bench, writes NOLA.com's John Reid.
Aldridge On Hollins, Del Negro, Monroe, Rosas
TNT's David Aldridge, in his weekly column for NBA.com, caught up with a pair of coaches who find themselves out of work despite recent success. Former Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins and ex-Clippers bench boss Vinny Del Negro both want to get back into coaching, but of the two, Hollins seems more upset over his dismissal.
"For me, it was just getting over, trying to digest what happened," Hollins said. "Like the beautiful girl when she was rejected, what did I do wrong? And when I analyzed it, I don't think I did anything wrong. I think they made a decision, and that was it. Now, whatever they may say, I don't think is what really [happened] behind the scenes. They wanted to hire somebody different."
Aldridge has more from Hollins, and he also passes along a few other tidbits from around the league, so let's dive in:
- Hollins would have been willing to take a discount to stay with the Grizzlies. "The market out there was $4MM [per year] for four years," he told Aldridge. "And I could have lived with that if they had come to me and said, 'We can't pay this.' But they never offered me a contract. Ever. They didn't talk to me for 10 days. But none of that really matters. It's their team, their money, and they can do what they want."
- It's "highly unlikely" that Greg Monroe will sign an extension with the Pistons before the October 31st deadline for him to do so, sources tell Aldridge. That's no surprise, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors has detailed.
- The Spurs wanted to bring Gersson Rosas to their front office before the Mavs hired him as GM this summer, according to Aldridge. Rockets GM Daryl Morey, under whom Rosas worked as VP of basketball operations, credits Rosas as "the driving force" behind the success Houston has had with its D-League affiliate.
Grizzlies Sign Byars, Ely, Gaffney
The Grizzlies have officially announced the signings of Derrick Byars, Melvin Ely and Tony Gaffney. It's confirmation of news we heard about Ely and Gaffney earlier this month. Memphis extended a training camp invitation to Byars this week, but it hadn't been clear whether he accepted. The trio of signees brings the Memphis roster to 18.
Byars also drew interest from the Knicks around the same time he worked out for the Grizzlies this month. He was a second-round draft pick of the Blazers in 2007, but Portland traded him to the Sixers on draft night and Philadelphia cut him in training camp that fall. The 6'7" swingman from Vanderbilt has also been to camp with the Thunder, Bulls and Heat over the years, but he only has a pair of games with the Spurs in 2011/12 on his official NBA resume. Last year he split the season between Caciques de Humacao in Puerto Rico and ALBA of Germany.
Byars, Ely and Gaffney are all presumably on non-guaranteed deals with the Grizzlies, as are Josh Akognon and Willie Reed. The team has 13 fully guaranteed contracts, so it's possible that none of the five camp invitees make the opening-night roster, but it seems like the most impressive of the bunch will remain with Memphis into the regular season.
Pacific Links: Nunnally, Bogut, Rivers, Lakers
James Nunnally was a sought-after commodity before he agreed to join the Suns for training camp. The Grizzlies also extended a camp invitation, and he went through workouts out for the Spurs, Jazz and Pelicans this month. Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside examines the 6'7" forward's journey from the D-League's Bakersfield Jam to the Suns, one of four NBA franchises that counted Bakersfield as one of their affiliates last season. There's more from Phoenix amid our roundup of the latest from the Pacific Division:
- The Warriors are taking a "wait-and-see approach" to a possible contract extension for a reinvigorated Andrew Bogut, writes Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group. An extension doesn't appear to be chief among Bogut's priorities, which is the case for most NBA veterans, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors explained.
- New Clippers boss Doc Rivers admits being "wishy-washy" as he recounts the back-and-forth decision process that led him to L.A. from the Celtics in a one-on-one with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
- Dwight Howard might be with the Rockets now, but he still casts a shadow over the Lakers as they open camp, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News details.
- The past 12 months have been unusually disappointing for a Lakers franchise that's been so successful, and with GM Mitch Kupchak's admission that the new CBA makes it difficult to attract free agents, the outlook is bleak for the purple-and-gold, opines Jeff Miller of the Orange County Register.
- Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic looks back on an offseason of sweeping change for the Suns.
Melvin Ely To Join Grizzlies For Camp
THURSDAY, 9:44am: Agent Byron Irvin has confirmed to Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype that Ely will be accepting a camp invite from the Grizzlies (Twitter link).
TUESDAY, 11:42am: Veteran big man Melvin Ely hasn't appeared in the NBA since before the lockout, but it looks like he'll at least get a chance at some preseason action this year. Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld reports (via Twitter) that Ely may be headed to training camp with the Grizzlies.
Ely was a 2002 lottery pick, and spent eight seasons in the NBA with the Clippers, Bobcats, Spurs, Hornets, and Nuggets before playing overseas and in the D-League the last two years. The 35-year-old was reasonably productive in his first four NBA seasons, recording an 11.9 PER, but that number slipped to 7.5 over his next four years. At this point, it would be surprising if he were even able to crack an NBA roster as a 15th man.
With 13 guaranteed contracts on their books, the Grizzlies seem to be adding frontcourt players to compete for one of the remaining two available roster spots. In addition to potentially signing Ely, the team is set to bring Tony Gaffney to camp, and reportedly worked out Derrick Byars last week.
Training Camp Invites: Byars, Gadzuric, Alexander
While we've has plenty of training camp signings today – from Louis Amundson to Dwayne Jones to Sam Young to Renaldo Balkman to Eric Boateng and Darius Johnson-Odom – there is also news of training camp invites that have yet to be accepted. Let's take a look at buzz from around the league that might help us determine who lands where in October:
- The Grizzlies have extended a training camp invite to Memphis-native Derrick Byars, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). Byars, 29, has spent most of the time since his Vanderbilt days playing overseas, minus two games with the Spurs in 2011/12 and a handful of D-League stints. With only 13 guaranteed contracts, the Grizz have two potential open roster spots.
- The Lakers have invited Dan Gadzuric to training camp, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles. With the additions of Boateng and Johnson-Odom, Gadzuric would make 19 players in camp for the Lakers should he accept. The UCLA product, 35, played in Venezuela last season after a decade in the NBA. The Lakers only have 11 guaranteed deals on their roster, but there will be plenty of competition for the remaining spots.
- Former Bucks first rounder Joe Alexander has received an invitation to training camp from the Warriors, tweets Zach Lowe of Grantland. Alexander, the No. 8 pick of the 2008 draft, lasted only two years in the NBA out of West Virginia. With Ognjen Kuzmic's arrival in Oakland reportedly imminent, the Warriors will have two potential regular season roster spots remaining.
Odds & Ends: Grizzlies, Sixers, Wolves, Kennedy
Few NBA teams had less roster turnover this offseason than the Grizzlies. As our free agent tracker shows, the only player who signed with the team for more than the minimum was Tony Allen, who has played in Memphis since 2010 and emerged as one of the club's leaders. However, the team will be in for some changes on the bench, where former assistant Dave Joerger takes over the head coaching job from the departed Lionel Hollins. Joerger tells Lang Greene of HoopsWorld that while he'll stick to many of the things that made last year's team successful, he expects to add a few new wrinkles to the mix as well.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:
- Former Pistons head coach John Kuester is currently the top candidate to be hired as Brett Brown's lead assistant with the 76ers, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
- Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype spoke to Ricky Rubio, who identified the Timberwolves' new deals with Nikola Pekovic and Chase Budinger as the club's best signings of the summer.
- Rebuilding is often a necessary process, but it has to give way to something substantial eventually, writes Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com. Deeks examines the free agent fates of Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson, noting that the Hawks were able to land Millsap for fewer years and dollars than the Bobcats signed Jefferson in part because Charlotte is paying a sort of "Bobcats tax" based on its reputation as a perennial lottery team.
- In an Insider-only piece for ESPN.com, Larry Coon lists the Nets, Bobcats, and Rockets among the winners of the league's new CBA, while placing the Celtics, Bulls, and Thunder in the losers column.
- Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside takes a look at D.J. Kennedy's persistent quest to earn a spot on an NBA roster. Kennedy will be in camp with the Mavericks in October.
Free Agent Notes: Wiz, Byars, Powell
Despite news that Emeka Okafor is out indefinitely with a herniated disc and Chris Singleton will undergo surgery today, the Wizards cannot guarantee money to any free agents to replace them (without letting go of someone else on a guaranteed contract by opening night), tweets NBA.com's David Aldridge. Washington already has 15 guaranteed deals on their roster, including Okafor and Singleton, but as Aldridge points out (via Twitter), a trade is always possible. CSN Washington's J. Michael confirms Aldridge's report, via Twitter, adding that the Wizards are likely to bring two or three other players to camp in addition to the 15.
Let's take a look at some other free agent notes from around the league:
- In his latest piece for HoopsWorld, Lang Greene examines a number of unsigned NBA veterans who are still looking for work, including Richard Hamilton, Tyrus Thomas, and Stephen Jackson.
- Memphis native and former Spur Derrick Byars is set to work out for the Grizzlies this week, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Spears adds that the Knicks also have some interest.
- Josh Powell has worked out with New Orleans for a second time, tweets Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype. The Pelicans, who expect to add more players to their camp roster, auditioned Powell last month.
Grizzlies To Bring Tony Gaffney To Camp
The Grizzlies will add another contract to their books and bring Tony Gaffney to training camp, reports ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter). Stein doesn't specify the details of the deal, but it sounds as if Gaffney will get a fully non-guaranteed camp invite, with a chance to earn a regular-season roster spot.
Gaffney, 28, went undrafted out of UMass in 2009, and has played primarily overseas since then. As our international tracker shows, he was already set to play for Telekom Bonn in Germany this season, but Stein tweets that the deal included an NBA out, allowing the veteran forward to accept a camp invite. In 23 games for Italy's Joventut Badalona last season, Gaffney averaged 11.5 PPG and 5.9 RPG.
After adding Gaffney to the roster, the Grizzlies will be carrying 16 players. However, only 13 of those contracts are guaranteed. Josh Akognon, Willie Reed, and Gaffney will be given the chance to compete for a roster spot in camp, assuming the team intends to carry 14 or 15 players into the season.
Odds & Ends: Pelicans, Grizzlies, Miller, D-League
We started the day off here at Hoops Rumors with some very pleasant news as Rick Adelman is confirmed to return to the sidelines as Timberwolves coach this season. The T-Wolves haven’t been to the postseason in nearly a decade, but there’s plenty of reason to believe that this will be the year that they break through. Here’s tonight’s look around the Association..
- The Pelicans added a whole bunch of talent this offseason and with that comes dramatically increased expectations, writes Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans will start alongside Eric Gordon, Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson with Brian Roberts, Al-Farouq Aminu, Austin Rivers, Anthony Morrow, Jason Smith, Greg Stiemsma and Jeff Withey off the bench, giving the 27-win team some serious playoff buzz.
- Andrew Ford of Sheridan Hoops runs down five things to watch when it comes to the Grizzlies this season. One of the keys for Memphis will be Mike Miller and it’ll be interesting to see if the returning veteran can hold up enough to make an impact. The 33-year-old has dealt with a litany of health issues in recent years and was let go via the amensty provision by Miami this summer.
- Gino Pilato of Ridiculous Upside ran down what we can expect out of this year’s D-League tryouts and even some tips for how the participants can impress scouts.