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.
Odds & Ends: Nunnally, Kirilenko, Brownlee, Rocks
D-Leaguer James Nunnally's name has come up in connection with a handful of NBA teams of late, having drawn the attention of the Spurs, Jazz, Suns and Pelicans. The Grizzlies may be most intrigued by the 6'7" swingman out of UC-Santa Barbara, as they've invited him to camp, reports Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside. Still it doesn't sound like Nunnally has accepted that invitation yet, as he'll work as scheduled out this week for Utah and New Orleans. Here's more from this afternoon in the NBA:
- An NBA investigation into Andrei Kirilenko's discount contract with the Nets has cleared the team of any wrongdoing, a source tells Fred Kerber of the New York Post. Complaints from at least one other team triggered the probe.
- The Knicks are thinking of inviting small forward Justin Brownlee to camp after watching him play for their summer league squad this year. The 25-year-old from St. John's will work out for the team this week, tweets Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com.
- Agent Burton Rocks tells Hoops Rumors that the players union has certified him and his Burton Rocks LTD firm, which boasts a dozen baseball clients, as the MLB Trade Rumors Agency Database shows. Rocks is breaking into hoops by repping former Stony Brook standout Muhammed El-Amin.
- Villanova assistant coach Billy Lange has turned down the Rockets' offer to become the head coach of their D-League affiliate, but he's considering a job with the Sixers, reports Dana O'Neil of ESPN.com.
- The Grizzlies traded for Kosta Koufos this summer, and they've coveted the former Nuggets big man for more than a year, as TNT's David Aldridge writes as he hits on a wide range of subjects for his weekly NBA.com column.
- Forbes today published its list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, and Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen leads all sports owners in net worth, notes Darren Rovell of ESPN.com.
- John Schuhmann of NBA.com examines some of the data teams will be able to use under the league's new SportVU camera deal.
Western Notes: Grizzlies, Joerger, Thunder, Ellis
A first-time coach could be an obstacle in the early season, but Grizzlies management is convinced the team will quickly gain chemistry with Dave Joerger, who was an assistant coach under Lionel Hollins. “You have to start rebuilding your momentum and re-creating your roles and we have a number of new faces,” GM Chris Wallace told Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. “Because of the personnel and the dynamics of the organization, you hope that his transition is looser than if an outside person came in.” Here's more from the Western Conference..
- Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman has some questions to ponder before training camp opens for the Thunder. One of the big question marks for OKC is whether Jeremy Lamb is ready to step up and contribute. The youngster will be called upon to be a big contributor after the Thunder let Kevin Martin go this summer.
- Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News sizes the Mavericks' Monta Ellis against ten other top shooting guards in the league over the last six seasons, based on scoring average. The Mavs gave Ellis a three-year, $28MM deal this offseason after missing out on some more ambitious free agent targets.
- Anthony Davis' cousin, Keith Chamberlain, was among 34 players trying out for the Pelicans' D-League affiliate this weekend, according to Jim Eichenhofer of NBA.com.
Cap Details: Grizzlies, Raptors, Bulls, Pistons
Mark Deeks of ShamSports has published his first column for SBNation.com, discussing how the Sixers' proximity to the salary floor has been overblown in recent weeks. As I wrote when I examined the issue last month, there's no real penalty for failing to meet the NBA's minimum payroll threshold, so there's no pressure on the 76ers to add unnecessary salary. However, as Deeks notes, the flexibility could open up a number of trade opportunties for the team.
Deeks also passes along a couple of cap details on other teams in his piece and in his latest update at ShamSports, so let's round up the rest of the noteworthy items….
- The Grizzlies and Raptors stretched the contracts of Fab Melo and Quentin Richardson, respectively, when releasing those players last week. That means that instead of a cap hit of about $1.31MM in 2013/14, Melo will count toward Memphis' books for about $437K for each of the next three seasons. For the Raptors, Richardson's cap hit figures to be about $467K for the next three years, rather than about $1.4MM this season.
- For both the Grizzlies and Raptors, the likely motivation was creating a little flexibility below the tax threshold, potentially accommodating further signings or trades.
- The Bulls also used the stretch provision when they released Richard Hamilton in July, as I suggested earlier today. That doesn't really create extra flexibility for Chicago, but it will reduce the team's tax bill for 2013/14.
- Josh Harrellson's two-year deal with the Pistons is partially guaranteed for $150K in year one, and non-guaranteed in year two, according to Deeks.
Southwest Rumors: McGrady, Hamilton, Covington
- Richard Hamilton is probably looking at no better than the minimum salary, but the Rockets, as well as the Knicks, are among teams that may have interest in the former Bull, tweets Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.
- Undrafted small forward Robert Covington scored a full guarantee on the first year of his three-year deal with the Rockets, per Mark Deeks of ShamSports, and the former Tennessee State Tiger tells Jason Friedman of Rockets.com about what set him apart in summer league, his relationship with James Harden, and more.
- HoopsWorld's Yannis Koutroupis names ex-Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins first on his list former NBA coaches likely to receive an offer the next time an opening emerges. Hollins beat out reigning Coach of the Year George Karl, who'd prefer to take a job with a Western Conference contender.
Fab Melo Clears Waivers
Big man Fab Melo has cleared waivers after being cut loose by the Grizzlies late last week, a league source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). The Syracuse product was set to earn $1.31MM in 2013/14.
Melo's stint in Memphis didn't last very long as he came over via trade from the Celtics in mid-August. It's still unclear if the Grizzlies intended all along to waive the center after giving up Donte Greene to get him. Ultimately, the move cost the Grizzlies a little bit of cap flexibility but netted them at least $300K in cash as the C's gave them $1.66MM in the swap.
Melo was the 22nd overall pick in the 2012 draft and only appeared in six NBA games for the Celtics in 2012/13. He spent the bulk of the season with Boston's D-League affiliate, averaging 9.8 PPG and 6.0 RPG in 33 games for the Maine Red Claws. Despite his lack of a real professional resume, it wasn't a given that Melo would clear waivers given his size and athleticism.
Grizzlies Waive Fab Melo
Just two weeks after acquiring him from the Celtics, the Grizzlies have released big man Fab Melo, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). It's not clear if that was Memphis' plan all along, or whether the team changed its opinion on Melo after trading for him, but either way, his stint with the Grizzlies didn't last long.
In the deal that sent Melo to Memphis and Donte Greene to Boston, the Grizzlies gave up a non-guaranteed salary of about $1.03MM to add a guaranteed $1.31MM salary. However, as Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld tweeted last week, the Celtics also included $1.66MM in cash in the swap. So even though the Grizzlies still take a cap hit for Melo, ownership technically saved a little money in the deal, at the expense of some flexibility.
Assuming Melo isn't claimed on waivers, he'll become an unrestricted free agent, free to sign with any team except the C's. Meanwhile, by cutting him prior to the August 31st deadline, the Grizzlies can use the stretch provision on Melo, allowing the club to stretch his salary payments and cap hit into three equal parts over the next three years.
Of course, it's no given that Melo will clear waivers. As Wojnarowski notes (via Twitter) it's possible that a team with cap space or a trade exception big enough to absorb his salary will take a flier on the young seven-footer, which would take the Grizzlies entirely off the hook for his contract.
Sixers Acquire Tony Wroten From Grizzlies
August 29th: The league has officially approved the trade, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
August 22nd: The second-round pick going to Memphis will be heavily protected and may never change hands, a source tells Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
1:29pm: A week after acquiring a 2012 first-round pick from the Celtics, the Grizzlies have sent their own 2012 first-rounder to Philadelphia. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (via Twitter) that the Grizzlies have traded Tony Wroten to the Sixers in exchange for a future second-round pick.
Wroten, 20, was selected 25th in last year's draft by the Grizzlies, but appeared in just 35 games for the team in his rookie season, playing limited minutes. In 11 contests for the D-League's Reno Bighorns, the University of Washington product averaged 17.0 PPG, but didn't shoot particularly well (.415/.326/.548).
Like Fab Melo, who the Grizzlies acquired from Boston, Wroten is viewed as a young player with upside. However, while Memphis was willing to roll the dice on Melo, it seems the team was ready to cut ties with Wroten. The move indicates that the Grizz have confidence in Nick Calathes as their backup point guard behind Mike Conley. Jerryd Bayless is also available to play at the point, though he's more of a combo guard, and Josh Akognon is under contract as well, but has a non-guaranteed deal. Wroten's departure could bode well for Akognon's chances of earning a regular-season roster spot.
The Sixers, meanwhile, had only been carrying 12 contracts (10 guaranteed), and need to add more players if they intend to surpass the league's required salary floor. Wroten's modest salary won't raise team payroll to the minimum threshold, but it's a start. Philadelphia had also been carrying just one point guard (Michael Carter-Williams), so taking a chance on Wroten makes sense for a team not expecting to compete for the playoffs.
Because they still have plenty of cap room, the 76ers able to absorb Wroten's contract without sending out any salary in return. The over-the-cap Grizzlies will create a traded player exception worth Wroten's salary ($1,160,040), the latest in a long list of TPEs for the club. Clearing that salary from their books should also give Memphis a little more breathing room below the luxury tax.
Reaction To Antawn Jamison’s Deal With Clippers
Minimum-salary signings usually don't generate much buzz, but when it's a player who averaged double-figure scoring for 13 consecutive seasons, the rules are different. Antawn Jamison put up a career-low 9.4 points per game last season in 21.4 minutes per contest, another low watermark, but he felt capable of a larger role. Here's more on his L.A. switch from the Lakers to the Clippers, as we detail here:
- The Clippers have had interest in signing both Jamison and Lamar Odom, but the effect that recent rumors of personal trouble for Odom will have upon his chances of joining the club is unclear, reports Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Even with Jamison, the Clippers have an open spot on the regular season roster.
- Jamison was "hardly" interested in rejoining the Lakers, Medina writes in the same piece. The forward was turned off by infighting among his teammates and he didn't have the best relationship with coach Mike D'Antoni, who made him a healthy scratch for six straight games last season.
- The Bulls and Grizzlies had interest in Jamison, as a weekend report indicated, but his preference all along was to join the Clippers, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
- Jamison's meeting with Doc Rivers earlier this month essentially cinched the deal, as Rivers prioritized bringing aboard a veteran without an ego who's eager to win a championship, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link). The Clippers envision Jamison as a mentor for Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, Shelburne adds in a separate tweet.
- Jamison is joining a contender, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors predicted. “This is a good fit for me. Hopefully, I’m the player that can help take the team over the edge (for a title),” Jamison told Spears (Twitter link).
Odds & Ends: Pierce, Odom, Collins, Cavs
The Sixers took their time in appointing a head coach this summer so it's no surprise to see them making late additions to the staff. Today, Philadelphia plucked Grizzlies assistant Lloyd Pierce to work alongside head coach Brett Brown, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (on Twitter). Here's more from around the Association..
- A close contact of Lamar Odom told Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork (on Twitter) that even though Odom "is going through a lot in his personal life" he wants to join the Lakers.
- Nets coach Jason Kidd acknowledged that Jason Collins was a candidate to join the team this offseason, but there's no longer a place for the center with 15 men on the roster, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “I think he can still play,” Kidd said. “His knowledge as a veteran. There’s always a veteran that can help a young team. I think he’ll find a job at some point here.”
- Contrary to a report back in May, the Cavs don't plan to bring Hungarian center Greg Somogyi in to training camp, writes Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer. The 7'3" big man was with the Lakers, and coach Mike Brown, in training camp last season. The Cavs are still putting together their training camp roster, but they have invited St. Mary's point guard Matthew Dellavedova and are considering former Georgetown forward Henry Sims.