Although a report last week indicated that Grant Hill would either sign with the Lakers or retire, the veteran forward hasn't quite narrowed his options down that far yet, says David Aldridge of TNT. According to Aldridge, Hill is considering the Heat and Thunder in addition to the Lakers, and each team has returned interest in the 39-year-old.
This year's amnesty period kicks off on Wednesday and this afternoon Larry Coon of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req'd) ran down his candidates for each of the 23 teams that did not use the provision last year. Among the most likely to go are Mike Miller of the Heat and Darko Milicic of the T'Wolves. After that, there are a number of "jump ball" candidates such as the Mavs' Brendan Haywood. The waiving of Haywood once seemed like a foregone conclusion but after striking out on Deron Williams, Dallas is no longer starved for cap room. Here's more from around the Association..
After reporting last night that the Jazz were close to reaching a buyout agreement with Raja Bell, Brian T. Smith of the Salt Lake Tribune confirms that the two sides have reached a verbal agreement on a contract buyout. Once the deal is made official and Bell becomes an unrestricted free agent, he'll be free to sign with any team in the league, and the veteran says he intends to explore all his options.
Jeff Green reached an agreement to remain with the Celtics on Saturday, while Aaron Brooks became an unrestricted free agent after the Suns withdrew their qualifying offer to the guard. What will Sunday bring? Here are the latest rumors on a number of free agents still on the market:
- The Heat have interest in unrestricted free agent point guard John Lucas III, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com.
- Marcus Camby's meeting with the Knicks today was "very positive," a source tells Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com, and Zwerling hears that Camby is drawn to the Knicks because of his "great relationship" with GM Glen Grunwald.
- "Everything went well" during the Heat's meeting with Rashard Lewis today, as Lewis' agent tells David Aldridge of TNT (Twitter link). Lewis has yet to make a decision, with the Knicks and Hawks still in the running, Aldridge says.
Earlier updates:
Unrestricted free agent Jordan Hill has not yet made his decision about where to sign, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune reports via Twitter, despite Hill's cryptic tweet last night that seemed to indicate otherwise. There's no apparent timetable for a decision, as an agreement could be reached as early as tonight or a few weeks from now, Zgoda tweets.
7:31pm: Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated tweets that the Heat are not interested in including Joel Anthony or Norris Cole in any sign-and-trade deals. Also, Rashard Lewis appears to be their number one target (Twitter link), thus making Camby less of a priority right now.
5:08pm: Mark Berman of Fox 26 in Houston reports that the Rockets are willing to work out a sign-and-trade with any team, not just the Heat or the Knicks.
4:50pm: Jared Zwerling of ESPN.com notes via Twitter that Camby's meeting with the Heat, originally scheduled for this morning, was postponed, not canceled.
After Team USA's first practice Friday afternoon, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant told reporters, including Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter), that he's not so sure that the team is done making trades. "I don't think that they're done. The moves they make just seem to come out of nowhere," Bryant said. Here's some more Saturday afternoon linkage..
Earlier today, we learned that the Rockets are no longer the frontrunner for Marcus Camby as the big man isn’t overly thrilled with the direction that the club seems to be going in. While the veteran hopes to play for the here-and-now, Houston’s moves this summer indicate that they plan on rebuilding. Here’s the latest on Camby and the Rockets..
4:09pm: Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports confirms (via Twitter) that the two teams Camby is visiting in the coming days, the Heat and Knicks, are the frontrunners to land him.
3:23pm: If the questions I received in yesterday's live chat were any indication, Rockets fans aren't entirely on board with the direction of the team's offseason so far. It seems that stance may extend to the team's free agents as well, as a source tells Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports Florida (Twitter link) that Houston is no longer Marcus Camby's preferred destination. According to Tomasson, Camby's tune has "changed greatly" this week, and he's now wary about re-signing with the Rockets, since the team appears to be rebuilding.
2:47pm: Allen left Miami without giving the Heat an answer on their offer and is "torn" on whether to leave the Celtics, says Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. TNT's David Aldridge adds (via Twitter) that the Grizzlies and Timberwolves are still options, though Allen doesn't have plans to visit either team. I'd guess his decision comes down to Miami and Boston.
FRIDAY, 1:54pm: The Timberwolves are the "dark-horse" in the chase for Allen, tweets Ric Bucher of ESPN.com. As Bucher acknowledges though, Minnesota is an extreme long shot.