Michael Snaer

Nets To Work Out Ivan Johnson, Others

SUNDAY, 10:12am: According to his agent, French SF Yakhouba Diawara has been invited to the Nets mini-camp this Tuesday, reports David Pick of Eurobasket (Twitter link). Also attending will be Michael Snaer, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. In 27 games with the Italian team Enel Brindisi, Snaer averaged 8.0 PPG, 2.4 RPG, and 1.1 APG.

3:28pm: NBA vets Ivan Johnson, Malcolm Lee, Kim English, Kevin Murphy and DaJuan Summers will join Liggins, Greene, Machado, Kennedy and others in working out for the club on Tuesday, the Nets announced. Lance Thomas will also participate, as Adam Zagoria of SNY reported earlier this week.

THURSDAY, 9:56am: Four free agents with NBA experience will visit with the Nets next week, according to Lenn Robbins of Nets.com, who says the team will see DeAndre Liggins, Donte GreeneScott Machado and D.J. Kennedy (Twitter links; hat tip to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv). The Nets are holding a mini-camp soon, so it seems like the foursome will be among those working out for the club.

Liggins has the most recent NBA experience among that group, having played in the NBA this past season on a pair of 10-day contracts with the Heat. The 26-year-old only appeared in one game for a single minute for Miami, but he made 39 appearances for the Thunder in 2012/13 and also saw playing time for the Magic the year before. He’s averaged 1.6 points in 7.1 minutes per game in the NBA since Orlando drafted him 53rd overall in 2011.

Greene, a former 28th overall pick, has the most extensive NBA experience, appearing in 253 games and making 82 starts for the Kings over four seasons, but he’s been out of the NBA since 2011/12, save for a late-season signing with the Grizzlies in 2012/13. He failed to get in a game during his time with Memphis. Machado, an undrafted former Iona standout, split this past season between France and the D-League after stints with the Rockets and Warriors in 2012/13. Kennedy, from St. John’s, has just two games with the Cavs in 2012/13 on his NBA resume, and he spent this past season playing in Israel and France.

Mini-camps at this time of year usually only help teams fill summer league rosters, but these four probably stand a chance at joining the Nets for preseason this fall, given their experience. The Nets, with a bloated payroll and limited flexibility, will have to do most of their free agent shopping with the minimum-salary exception.

International Notes: McGrady, Cooley, Snaer

The NBA free agent market is drying up, leading many players to look for work overseas. Here's the latest from the international scene:

  • Tracy McGrady spent most of 2012/13 in China before hooking on with the Spurs in the final week of the regular season, and he's mulling whether to return to China or seek another NBA deal, according to the Global Times.
  • We heard yesterday that undrafted big man Jack Cooley spurned several training camp invitations from NBA teams for a deal with a Turkish team, and agent Adam Pensack let Shams Charania of RealGM.com know the identity of those clubs, some of whom offered partially guaranteed contracts. The Blazers, Grizzlies, Spurs, Thunder, Nets, Heat, Lakers, Rockets, Pacers and Cavs all wanted to sign Cooley, Pensack says.
  • The Nets also invited Michael Snaer to camp, but Sportando's Enea Trapani hears that he'll sign with Enel Brindisi of Italy instead (Twitter link).
  • report last month indicated that 42nd overall pick Pierre Jackson, whom the Pelicans acquired in the Jrue Holiday trade, would sign with ASVEL Villeurbanne of France, and Jackson added confirmation via Instagram. Tony Parker owns a share of the French team.
  • Shooting guard Carlon Brown was in training camp with the Warriors last fall and spent the season in the D-League, but he'll be overseas for 2013/14, having signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv of Israel. The Israeli league announced the signing via Twitter (hat tip to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando).

Nets Invite Michael Snaer To Training Camp

The Nets have invited undrafted Florida State product Michael Snaer to training camp, according to Florida State's website. It's unclear whether he'll accept the invitation, but it seems likely he'll join the Nets and attempt to make the team's regular season roster, even though that figures to be an uphill battle, since Brooklyn is already carrying 15 guaranteed contracts.

The 6'4" shooting guard played four years at Florida State, averaging 14.8 points per game as a senior. He also grabbed 4.5 rebounds per contest this past season, an impressive number for his height. He exceled on the defensive end as well, earning ACC All-Defensive Team honors as a junior. Snaer played seven games in summer league action last month, notching 6.4 PPG and 3.3 RPG for the Thunder and Lakers.

Snaer is the 16th player on the Nets, but they, like every NBA team, can carry 20 players until opening night of the regular season, so a few more invitees will probably join him in Brooklyn's camp. Most of them will receive "summer contracts," which are one-year, non-guaranteed deals for the minimum salary.

Draft Rumors: Saturday

The Raptors don't have a pick in either round, but Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears they're trying to acquire a second-rounder, if not a first-round choice, by draft time (Twitter link). That echoes comments that GM Masai Ujiri made in interviews last week indicating his desire to trade for a pick, as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun points out via Twitter. There are sure to be more rumors about teams exchanging picks in the coming days as one of the most unpredictable drafts in recent memory approaches. Here's more: 

  • The Blazers posted profiles of today's workout participants on the team website, though Peyton Siva, the first player on the list, sprained an ankle before the audition and didn't take part, as fellow prospect Mike Muscala tells The Oregonian's Joe Freeman (Twitter link). Muscala, Elijah Johnson, Michael Snaer, Chris Evans and Jackie Carmichael were the others in for the workout. 
  • Siva will consult his agent about whether to pull out of his final two scheduled workouts, for the Pacers and Clippers, reports Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (Twitter link).
  • Muscala will fly to Cleveland, ostensibly to work out for the Cavs, according to his Twitter feed (hat tip to Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune).
  • C.J. Aiken was scheduled to work out Monday for the Sixers, but he'll instead be doing so for the Pistons that day, agent Stephen Pina tells Tom Moore of Phillyburbs.com. It will be Aiken's second audition for Detroit.
  • The Celtics will work out big men Kelly Olynyk and Lucas Nogueira next week, tweets Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.
  • Carrick Felix set a conditioning run record at a Suns workout today that also included Reggie Bullock, Solomon Hill, James Southerland, Brandon Triche and Elias Harris, notes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (All Twitter links).
  • Brandon Paul has worked out for 14 teams, as he details to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.

Draft Notes: McLemore, Magic, Saric, Bennett

Chris Mannix of SI.com hands out his draft superlatives, with an assist from scouts and executives. Anthony Bennett has the greatest superstar potential, Mannix writes, while Victor Oladipo could be the most resounding bust. It'll be a while before we can definitively say whether Mannix was correct on either account, but much more becomes clear with each passing day until June 27th. After passing along the latest this morning, we'll follow with with an evening draft roundup:
  • Ben McLemore has reportedly slipped behind Victor Oladipo in the eyes of the Magic, but Orlando will have McLemore in for a workout June 11th, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. (Twitter links). Keith Clanton, Erik Murphy, Michael Snaer and Kenny Boynton, all products of Florida colleges, are auditioning for the Magic either today or tomorrow, Robbins adds.
  • Chad Ford of ESPN.com chatted with readers, revealing that top-level scouts believe Dario Saric to be on par with Otto Porter and that the Wizards and Bobcats are especially high on Anthony Bennett.
  • Korie Lucious worked out for the Bucks today and did so for the Pistons earlier this week, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. D.J. Stephens, another participant in today's Bucks workout, has also drawn interest from the Pistons and Grizzlies.
  • Jody Genessy of the Deseret News had the news on six players working out for the Jazz today, and he tweets word of six more set to hit Utah on Thursday: Glen Rice Jr.,Vander BlueJack Cooley, Solomon Hill, Pierre Jackson and Trevor Mbakwe.
  • Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic adds second-round hopefuls E.J. Singler and Jared Berggren to the list of players who worked out for the Suns today (Twitter link).
  • B.J. Young, Brandon Paul, Reggie Bullock, Romero Osby, Kenny Kadji and James Ennis are among the prospects working out Thursday for the Knicks, the team announced via Twitter
  • Ennis, Steven Adams, Rudy Gobert, Mike Muscala, Cody Zeller, Jeff Withey, Shabazz Muhammad, Rodney Williams, Reggie Bullock, Kelly Olynyk and Tony Snell will all audition for Minnesota in the coming weeks, Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders tweets. He also lists "Thomas," likely in reference to Deshaun Thomas or Adonis Thomas.
  • The Wizards announced they'll put Deshaun ThomasKeion Bell, Laurence Bowers, D.J. Seeley, James Southerland and Khalif Wyatt through a workout tomorrow.