Southwest Notes: Chandler, Pelicans, Blue
Tyson Chandler said Tuesday that he feels “indebted” to the Mavs for bringing him back to the team, observes Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Mavs owner Mark Cuban hinted that he intends to keep Chandler around after his contract expires at season’s end, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com notes.
Here’s the latest out of the Southwest Division:
- The Spurs worked out Vander Blue last week before Blue committed to a camp deal with the Wizards, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. Blue was a part of San Antonio’s summer league team in July.
- Cuban is excited about the Mavericks 2014/15 campaign, Price writes in the same piece linked above. Cuban said, “I am so fired up, you have no idea. You know how important I think chemistry is, so just being able to get a feel for how all the guys get together and how they get along [is important]. Everybody’s fired up, everybody pushing each other. Dirk Nowitzki has got a big old smile on his face, so it’s exciting.”
- The small forward position looks to be the Pelicans‘ weakest link heading into training camp, John Reid of the Times-Picayune opines. That’s why newly signed John Salmons has a chance to make an impact this season, and he’ll compete for a starting job with Darius Miller and Luke Babbitt, notes Reid.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Southwest Rumors: Leonard, Mohammed, Asik
Kawhi Leonard isn’t making any promises about signing an extension with the Spurs before the October 31st deadline for him to do so, but he tells Jabari Young of the San Antonio News-Express that he’s pleased with the other moves the team made this summer. He expressed particular satisfaction with new deals for Boris Diaw and Patty Mills, as well as Tony Parker‘s extension. “I’m happy about that just in case the Spurs do extend me and if I am a Spur for life,” Leonard said. “That’s a great thing to know that Tony will be there.” Let’s have a look at the latest from the Southwest:
- Nazr Mohammed had expressed interest in returning to the Spurs for the 2014/15 season, but San Antonio clearly didn’t reciprocate the feeling, Young tweets. Mohammed, who won a championship with the Spurs in 2005, re-signed with the Bulls on minimum-salary contract this afternoon.
- While taking on Omer Asik‘s bloated contract is definitely a risk for the Pelicans, Jimmy Smith of the Times-Picayune thinks New Orleans potentially stands to reap some major benefits from the decision. Specifically, Smith thinks Asik’s presence will help alleviate the pressure placed on Anthony Davis, who otherwise received the brunt of opposing teams’ attention last year in a less-than-stellar frontcourt.
- Some of the advice that helped Kostas Papanikolaou decide to sign with Houston came from former Rockets shooting guard and fellow Greek native Vassilis Spanoulis, an unlikely source given the frustration Spanoulis felt upon his exit from the team. Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle has the details.
- The Mavericks had a busy offseason, and it’s one that Jae Crowder believes will push Dallas to the next level of competition, as Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram transcribes. “I feel like we picked up some championship-level pieces,” Crowder said. “I’m not just blowing gas… “One thing Cuban was talking about was just having a good mix of older guys and younger guys, and I feel like that’s exactly what they did this summer with bringing in a good group of guys.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Pelicans In Talks With Samad Nikkhah Bahrami
The Pelicans are in talks with the representatives for Iranian small forward Mohammad Samad Nikkhah Bahrami (more often referred to as Samad Nikkhah Bahrami), sources tell Enea Trapani of Sportando. Bahrami was on the verge of a deal with French club Limoges Cercle Saint-Pierre, but that’s now on the back burner thanks to the possibility of joining New Orleans.
The 31-year-old has years of experience in international competition and has played for clubs in France, Iran, and China. Most recently, Bahrami played for the Fujian SBS Sturgeons in Chinese Basketball Association. Given his age, lack of NBA experience, and the Pelicans’ 18-man roster, one would assume that the Pelicans are looking at Bahrami as a non-guaranteed training camp possibility. Trapani writes that Bahrami is a consideration for the Pelicans since they’re thin at the three.
New Orleans currently has a dozen fully guaranteed contracts, three partially guaranteed deals, and three non-guaranteed deals on their roster.
Contract Details: Barbosa, Turkoglu, Roberts Jr.
Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders is always diligent in keeping us informed of the nitty gritty details for all of the contracts around the league, and after his latest round of updates, he figures there are 493 contracts in place, 400 of which are guaranteed, and at least 43 of which will have to be cut before the regular season begins (Twitter links). We’ll link to his team salary sheets, noting specific player revelations where they apply:
- Leandro Barbosa‘s one-year pact for the minimum with the Warriors is partially guaranteed at $150K.
- Hedo Turkoglu‘s one-year minimum deal with the Clippers is fully guaranteed.
- Ronald Roberts Jr.‘s deal with the Sixers is for four years at the minimum salary, including a team option for the final year. This season is partially guaranteed at $35K.
- Chris Crawford‘s two-year contract with the Cavs is indeed for the minimum, with a partial guarantee of $20K this year, and a fully non-guaranteed 2015/16.
- Jerome Jordan‘s camp deal with the Nets is for the minimum, as expected. The one-year agreement will become partially guaranteed at $150K if he remains with Brooklyn through October 25.
- Dionte Christmas, Vernon Macklin, and Kevin Jones have identical one-year deals with the Pelicans, each of which are non-guaranteed.
Western Rumors: Livingston, Hayward, Previews
The Clippers scandal that revolved around former owner Donald Sterling may be eclipsed by the Hawks race-fueled turmoil when all is said and done. The latter situation is still developing, and has extended down from the ownership box into Atlanta’s GM and scouting departments. Here’s a rundown of Western news and notes for the night:
- On an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio, Shaun Livingston said that he hopes to be able to return to the court by the start of the Warriors‘ season, the channel tweeted (H/T Diamond Leung of Bay Area News Group). The veteran guard underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right big toe last month.
- On his personal blog, Jazz forward Gordon Hayward recounts his summer. In addition to waxing about signing a max offer sheet, spending time with Team USA, and an offseason training regimen focusing on strength and shooting, Hayward says that he’s eager to start the new season and play for new coach Quin Snyder.
- The Basketball Insiders crew previewed the 2014/15 season for the Pelicans, Nuggets, Jazz, Lakers, and Kings.
Western Notes: Faried, Warriors, Andersen
Kenneth Faried‘s stellar play with Team USA is going to raise his asking price during his upcoming extension talks with the Nuggets, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. A few months ago a GM told Deveney that Faried was going to be paid in the Paul Millsap ($9.5MM) or Taj Gibson ($8MM) range, but now he’ll most likely command a salary more comparable to Al Jefferson‘s ($13.7MM), the GM opines.
Here’s more from the west:
- Such a deal for Faried would carry a risk for Denver, according to what one Western Conference assistant coach told Deveney. The assistant said, “I guess you don’t know what kind of production he would give you over a long period of time. What happens if they get Danilo Gallinari back and healthy? Now they have Arron Afflalo back. Ty Lawson and JaVale McGee were not healthy last year. How much will having those guys affect his numbers?”
- The Warriors gave partial guarantees of $35K apiece to Aaron Craft, James Michael McAdoo, Mitchell Watt and Justin Holiday, all of whom are on one-year deals for the minimum salary, as Pincus reports in a pair of tweets and on the Basketball Insiders Warriors salary page.
- David Andersen has signed with ASVEL Villeurbanne of the French League, the team announced via Twitter (translation by Enea Trapani of Sportando). Earlier this summer he was eying a possible return to the NBA. Andersen played two seasons in the league, and made his last appearance in the association during the 2010/11 campaign with the Pelicans. His NBA career averages are 4.9 PPG and 2.8 RPG. His career slash line is .440/.347/.674.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Southwest Notes: Lewis, Rockets, Terry
Here’s tonight’s look at the Southwest Division..
- Charlie Villanueva signing with the Mavericks can’t be a good sign for Rashard Lewis and his chances of getting something done with Dallas, tweets Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. The team recently 86’d their one-year, $1.4MM offer after learning that Lewis needed an operation on his right knee.
- The Rockets certainly wanted his expiring contract, but they also had their eye on adding a veteran guard when they traded for Jason Terry, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. With that in mind, Feigen wonders if the Rockets might want to add an experienced player at the center position. Trouble is, Houston has 19 players under contract and 16 with guaranteed deals. For now, it looks like Houston will hope to see some development out of Joey Dorsey, Donatas Motejunas, and Josh Powell.
- Free agent forward Vernon Macklin, who signed a non-guaranteed training camp deal with the Pelicans, rejected overseas deals to hook on with New Orleans, according to Shams Charania of RealGM. Kevin Jones, who also has a non-guaranteed deal with the Pelicans, had significant interest from the Pacers before Paul George‘s season-ending injury.
Western Notes: Rivers, Cousins, Ayon
Austin Rivers believes this coming season will be his breakout year, John Reid of the Times Picayune writes. The Pelicans guard said, “I was constantly working the entire summer. I gained 10 pounds and I’ve got stronger in my upper body. This is my year. But I think at the end of the day, I think we all now understand we can only control what we can control. At the end of the day, we let all of the guys in the front office do their jobs. We just stick to what we do. We play.” Rivers has career averages of 7.0 PPG, 1.8 RPG, and 2.2 APG. His career slash line is .390/.346/.601.
Here’s more from the west:
- DeMarcus Cousins tells Chris Kudialis of The Sacramento Bee that he hopes Team USA experience for him and Rudy Gay will pay dividends for the Kings this coming season. “My thing is just taking in as much as I can from this experience and taking it back home,” Cousins said. “I’m being led by some of the best players in the league here, and I want to use everything I learn to make myself better.”
- With the Warriors signing GM Bob Myers to an extension recently, Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders looks back at Myers’ biggest moves since arriving in Golden State.
- Gustavo Ayon prefers to play in the NBA next season, but the offers he has received from European teams have been more lucrative to this point, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). Stein believes that Ayon, whom the Spurs recently expressed interest in, will head overseas unless the offers improve. Ayon played in 26 games for the Hawks last season, averaging 4.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 1.1 APG.
Cray Allred contributed to this post.
Pacers Sign Arinze Onuaku For Camp
FRIDAY, 10:20am: The Pacers have confirmed the signing with a formal announcement.
THURSDAY, 1:01pm: It’s indeed a non-guaranteed deal, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.
WEDNESDAY, 11:10pm: Arinze Onuaku has signed with the Pacers according to the RealGM.com Transactions log. The length or terms of the deal are unclear, but it’s most likely a non-guaranteed camp deal. After their recent agreement with Chris Singleton, the Pacers had been carrying 18 players on their preseason roster, with 13 of those deals guaranteed.
The 6’9″, 27 year-old appeared in a total of five games last season, split between the Pelicans and the Cavaliers. Onuaku averaged 0.6 PPG, 1.6 RPG, and 0.6 APG. His slash line was .200/.000/.500.
Onuaku will compete for a roster spot in what is currently a crowded Indiana frontcourt. Ahead of him on the depth chart are David West, Roy Hibbert, Luis Scola, Ian Mahinmi, and Lavoy Allen.
And-Ones: ‘Melo, Pelicans, Rockets, Dragic
The Bulls brought up the idea of a two-year deal for Carmelo Anthony that would allow him to cash in on projected growth in the league’s maximum salaries, but the Knicks star said today that it didn’t appeal to him, as Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal observes (Twitter link). Anthony, who re-signed with the Knicks on a five-year deal, cast his experience as a free agent this summer as stressful, explaining that he doesn’t want to go through it again, Herring tweets. Thanks to the raises he’s earned on his high-dollar contracts through the years, his salary for this season already exceeds the NBA’s maximum, so absent a truly dramatic increase to the max in the next few years, Anthony wouldn’t have stood to benefit from hitting free agency again in the near future. There’s more on Anthony amid the latest from around the league:
- Anthony cited his New York-based business interests, his family, and the presence of Phil Jackson as reasons he chose to re-sign with the Knicks, Herring also notes (Twitter link).
- Austin Rivers was in trade rumors earlier this summer as the Pelicans sought to make room to acquire Omer Asik, and while they listened to pitches from other teams, their continued faith in the former No. 10 overall pick led them to hang on to him, according to John Reid of The Times Picayune.
- The pending Jason Terry trade will give the Rockets a weapon to use in a subsequent deal, should they choose, since they were otherwise short on mid-tier salaries to assist with salary matching, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle details.
- The NBA buyout clause in Zoran Dragic‘s contract with Spain Unicaja Malaga isn’t prohibitive, and it would allow the shooting guard to come stateside for this season, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Previous reports have identified the Rockets and, more recently, the Pacers as suitors for Dragic, who apparently “badly wants” to play in the NBA.
- Lorenzo Brown‘s deal with Reyer Venezia of Italy is on shaky ground, as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia hears. Brown appeared in 26 games this past season for the Sixers, and it seems there’s a chance he’ll go back on the free agent market in advance of NBA training camps.