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Southwest Notes: Mavs, O’Brien, Rockets, Hornets

August 20th, 2012 at 4:59pm CST by Luke Adams

Let's round up a few items out of the Southwest, which was the NBA's second biggest-spending division in free agency this summer, as we outlined earlier today.

The Mavericks have agreed to hire Jim O'Brien, former head coach of the Celtics, Sixers, and Pacers, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein. O'Brien will be Rick Carlisle's top assistant in Dallas.
In other coaching news, former Rockets VP of player personnel Dean Cooper will rejoin the club as an assistant coach, tweets Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston.
A handful of former NBA players that spoke to John Reid of the New Orleans Times Picayune were positive about the Hornets' direction and future.
Darryl Watkins received a shot from the Hornets near the end of the 2011/12 season, but after playing just a few games with the team, it appears he'll be heading overseas for the coming year. Emiliano Carchia of Sportando passes along a report suggesting that Watkins has agreed to sign with a team in Bulgaria.

Odds & Ends: Harden, Hornets, James, Olympics

August 19th, 2012 at 7:53pm CST by Zachary Links

Sad news today as former NBA Deputy Commissioner and Players Association executive director Simon Gourdine passed away at the age of 72. As deputy commissioner in 1976, Gourdine was instrumental in helping to facilitate the merger of the NBA and ABA, which brought the Nets, Pacers, Spurs, and Nuggets over to the Association. Here's more from around the league on this Sunday evening..

If Eric Gordon is a max player, and Brook Lopez is a max player, reigning Sixth Man of the Year James Harden is certainly a max player, opines Chris Sheridan of Sheridan Hoops. After signing Serge Ibaka to a four-year, $48MM contract extension, the Thunder will have to get creative if they hope to hang on to Harden. Of course, Oklahoma City may opt to trade the super sub to avoid the possibility of having to match a lucrative backloaded offer sheet down the line.
The Hornets have gone to great lengths to revamp their club this summer and Jim Eichenhofer of Hornets.com runs down the newest additions to the hive. Eichenhofer notes that the recently-acquired Hakim Warrick may have to shift from power forward to small forward in order to see time in New Orleans.
It may be four years away, but LeBron James already says that he hopes to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, according to the Associated Press. James joked that he has "done the math" and is well aware that he will be 31-years-old during those games. Of course, James could only play if there isn't an under-23 age limit applied for USA Basketball starting in 2016.

Poll: How Many Games Will Hornets Win?

August 19th, 2012 at 11:19am CST by Daniel Seco

After finishing the 2011-12 season with a disappointing 21-45 record, the Hornets look ahead to next year with hopes of making drastic improvements. The team has had a strong offseason thanks to new owner Tom Benson, who has made a strong commitment to making the Hornets as viable as his beloved Saints.

From extending head coach Monty Williams' contract to having a successful draft, the Hornets may be ready to improve upon last year's struggles. The question becomes how many games will the Hornets win next season given the moves they have made during the offseason.

How Many Games Will The Hornets Win Next Season?

30-35 39.02% (270 votes)

36-40 32.08% (222 votes)

41-45 15.61% (108 votes)

Other 9.54% (66 votes)

46-50 3.76% (26 votes)

Total Votes: 692

Hornets Sign Monty Williams To Contract Extension

August 19th, 2012 at 8:49am CST by Daniel Seco

The Hornets and head coach Monty Williams agreed to a four-year contract extension over the weekend that will keep him in the Big Easy through 2016, writes John Reid of The Times Picayune. The 40-year-old former NBA forward enters his third season with New Orleans after enjoying success in his debut campaign and struggling last year in the wake of Chris Paul being traded to the Clippers. With a series of key moves through the draft, free agency and trades this offseason, Hornets executive Mickey Loomis expressed excitement about Williams' ability to develop the young pieces around him into a championship contender.

"He knows and we know that he’s here for the long term as we develop a young team into a championship contender," Loomis said. "I’ve been very impressed with Monty since we purchased the team."

The team should have no problem improving upon its 21-45 record from the 2011-12 season thanks to the addition of eight new players including Anthony Davis, Austin Rivers, Ryan Anderson and a healthy Eric Gordon, who missed most of last season due to injury. Time will tell how playing in the Olympics and spending time with world-class players has positively impacted Davis' development. With a new contract in place and a strong new ownership group, Williams' attention can be completely focused on getting the most out of his players on the basketball court.

"I’m aware of the work ahead of us, but that’s what we all want," Williams said. "But at the same time, to have Mickey and Mr. Benson step up to the plate and just say this is the guy we trust going forward, they will never know how that makes me and my family feel. That’s a pretty profound statement."

Hornets Sign Brian Roberts

August 16th, 2012 at 3:25pm CST by Luke Adams

The Hornets have officially signed 6'1" guard Brian Roberts to a contract, the team announced today in a press release. Roberts, who played his college ball at the University of Dayton, has spent the last few seasons overseas, primarily in Germany.

Roberts played for the Hornets' Summer League squad in Las Vegas, averaging 13.8 points, 2.2 assists and 2.0 rebounds in 27.4 minutes per game, including outstanding shooting percentages of .500/.545/.938.

Roberts will likely receive no more than a partial guarantee from the Hornets, with a chance to earn a roster spot in training camp. We heard earlier in August that the 26-year-old was leaving his team in Germany to join the Hornets.

Free Agent Spending By Division: Southwest

August 16th, 2012 at 12:56pm CST by Luke Adams

Our look at offseason spending continues today as we examine the fifth of six NBA divisions. So far, we've covered free agent expenditures in the Atlantic, Central and Southeast, and Northwest divisions, using Hoops Rumors' Free Agent Tracker. The Southwest division is up next, and it includes a surprising pair of teams at the top and bottom.

Once again, these figures only take into account free agent signings, so salary absorbed in trades or money used to sign draft picks isn't included in this list. Additionally, not all of this salary is necessarily guaranteed, which we'll try to note as we go along. Here are this summer's Southwest Division free agent costs, sorted by player salary:

New Orleans Hornets: $108.948MM (Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon, Robin Lopez, Roger Mason)
It wasn't a surprise to see the Hornets match the Suns' max offer sheet for Gordon and bring him back on a four-year deal worth $58MM+. But I wasn't expecting the Hornets to splurge on a couple more free agents, as they did with Anderson and Lopez. To be fair, it appears only the first year of Lopez's three-year, $15MM+ contract is guaranteed, but Anderson's four-year, $34MM deal is fully guaranteed. With Gordon, Anderson, Anthony Davis, and Austin Rivers signing four-year deals this summer, the Hornets' core appears to be in place through at least 2016.

Houston Rockets: $56.248MM (Omer Asik, Carlos Delfino, Jeremy Lin)
It appeared for some time as if the Rockets would use their cap space to absorb salary in a major trade. Instead, they used it to sign a pair of players to offer sheets they may have thought would be matched. The "poison pill" included in both Asik's and Lin's offer sheets won't apply to Houston, since the Rockets have the ability to spread the two players' annual salaries out more evenly (about $8.3MM per year each). Still, the $25.1MM they'll spend on each player is a risky investment.

San Antonio Spurs: $52.697MM (Boris Diaw, Tim Duncan, Danny Green, Patty Mills)
The Spurs' offseason was fairly quiet, as the team simply re-signed its own free agents rather than exploring the market too extensively. All of these contracts except Green's include a player option in the final year, and all four of them are fully guaranteed, with Duncan's $30MM representing by far the largest commitment.

Memphis Grizzlies: $26.832MM (Darrell Arthur, Jerryd Bayless, Hamed Haddadi, Marreese Speights)
Like the Spurs, the Grizzlies focused primarily on re-signing their own free agents, with one notable exception: Memphis replaced the departing O.J. Mayo with Bayless. Mayo ended up signing for not much more than the two-year, $6.135MM deal Bayless inked with the Grizzlies, so it will be interesting to see if the minor savings are worth it.

Dallas Mavericks: $17.444MM (Chris Kaman, O.J. Mayo, Delonte West)
The Mavericks appeared prepared to offer Deron Williams a four-year, $73MM+ contract, which would have significantly altered their place on this list. But when D-Will opted to return to the Nets, the Mavs took a more cautious approach to free agency, committing to Kaman, Mayo, and West on short-term deals. Given the possibility that Mayo will opt out of his second year and the fact that West is on a minimum-salary deal, the total amount the Mavs spend on this summer's free agents could end up being less than $13MM.

Jazz Tried To Acquire Ryan Anderson

August 13th, 2012 at 1:36pm CST by Luke Adams

Restricted free agent Ryan Anderson became a Hornet over a month ago, sent to New Orleans by the Magic in a sign-and-trade deal for Gustavo Ayon. Before the two sides completed that trade, however, the Jazz were in talks with the Magic to acquire the sharpshooting Anderson, according to Brian T. Smith of the Salt Lake Tribune.

Smith reports that the Jazz likely would have had to give up Paul Millsap in order to land Anderson, but that Utah eventually backed out of talks for last year's Most Improved Player. The Jazz ultimately acquired another forward in Marvin Williams, and signed an outside shooter in Randy Foye. It's not clear whether the four years and $34MM that Anderson will earn with New Orleans was more or less than he could have received from Utah.

For the Magic, the traded player exception they earned from the Anderson sign-and-trade allowed them to absorb Josh McRoberts' and Christian Eyenga's salaries in last week's Dwight Howard blockbuster, which helped create a massive $17.8MM trade exception in the move. If, rather than Ayon, Orlando had acquired Millsap and his $8.6MM expiring contract for Anderson, it may very well have impacted what the team was willing to give and take in the Howard deal.

Southwest Notes: Collison, Crowder, Benson

August 6th, 2012 at 1:59pm CST by Daniel Seco

Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes.com tots up the off-court endorsement earnings for Team USA, noting that everyone on the team except Kevin Love has a deal with Nike. The absences of Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard leave Adidas without a representative, notes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). Before USA Basketball takes on Argentina later this afternoon, let's catch up on the latest news and notes out of the Southwest Division…

Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com looks at how the Mavs point guards line up behind presumptive starter Darren Collison. Delonte West should serve as a solid backup to Collison as Rodrigue Beaubois continues to learn the position.
Jae Crowder, the 34th overall pick in this year's draft, isn't guaranteed a roster spot with the Mavs, even though he's already signed to a deal, as Earl K. Sneed writes on Mavs.com. Nonetheless, his impressive summer league stint gives him hope of cracking the rotation at either forward spot.
The Hornets have cut ties with numerous members of their respective broadcast teams as new owner Tom Benson wants to take the franchise in a new direction, writes John Reid of The Times Picayune. The latest to go include longtime television play-by-play announcer Bob Licht and analyst Gil McGregor.

Amick On Olympics, Martin, Mason, Harden

August 6th, 2012 at 11:38am CST by Chuck Myron

You might expect Thunder GM Sam Presti to fall in line behind Mavs owner Mark Cuban in calling for limits on the participation of NBA players in the Olympics, considering Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka are all playing in London after a long postseason run this spring. Sam Amick of SI.com writes that while Presti is officially neutral on the issue, his enthusiasm for the benefits of international play is apparent, as he harked back to the growth he saw in Durant and Westbrook after the 2010 World Championships. "I think it's really helpful for them to play under different circumstances; it only rounds them out as players and makes them better," Presti said. "What we observed from the World Championship was just the mental endurance that it takes to go through an international competition and the training camp that leads up to it in medal-round play just to get there." The comments made by Presti, a product of the Spurs front office, seem to echo what Spurs GM R.C. Buford has said about the issue. Amick has plenty more in today's piece, and we've got the highlights here:

The market for remaining frontcourt players is being held up while teams wait for Kenyon Martin to sign, Amick hears. The Lakers and Nets are among teams he's considering, but the willingness of many others to settle for the minimum salary so far this summer has eroded Martin's leverage. Martin is reportedly uninterested in a deal for the minimum.
Amick takes a closer look at how NBA teams are being more cautious in handing out deals under the new CBA, along with the rise in minimum-salary deals. Luke Adams compiled a list of pacts for the minimum through August 1. The contract Roger Mason signed this weekend with the Hornets is another minimum deal, Amick reports. He also notes that players union president Derek Fisher and vice president Maurice Evans, two key figures in last year's lockout, remain unsigned.
Emptying his notebook, Amick passes along a James Harden quote from last month that gives indication he's confident about his prospects for an extension with the Thunder. "I'm pretty, a hundred percent, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be in Oklahoma City," Harden said. "I'll let my agent and Mr. Presti and [Thunder owner Clay] Bennett discuss all that, so I'll let them handle that and stay out of it for right now and worry about the USA Olympics."

Robin Lopez Undergoes Knee Surgery

August 4th, 2012 at 5:51pm CST by Sean Highkin

Newly acquired Hornets center Robin Lopez has undergone surgery on his left knee to repair a meniscus tear, the team announced Saturday. He is expected to be ready for training camp.

Lopez was signed and traded last week from the Suns to the Hornets as part of a three-team deal that also involved the Timberwolves. As part of the trade, he reportedly signed a three-year deal worth $15.3MM.