New York Knicks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Knicks Sign Thanasis Antetokounmpo

August 7th, 2015 at 1:34pm CST by Chuck Myron

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

FRIDAY, 1:34pm: The deal is official, the team announced (Twitter link).

WEDNESDAY, 2:58pm: The Knicks and 2014 No. 51 pick Thanasis Antetokounmpo are putting the finishing touches on what will be a two-season deal with partial guarantees, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). Marc Berman of the New York Post reported last week that the Knicks were expected to sign the draft-and-stash prospect before training camp. It appears he’ll see the minimum salary, since the Knicks look like they’re using their $2.814MM room exception on Kevin Seraphin.

Antetokounmpo appeared in 47 contests last season for the Westchester Knicks of the NBA’s D-League. The 23-year-old averaged 13.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists to go along with a shooting line of .459/.232/.618.

The addition of Antetokounmpo will give the Knicks a roster count of 17 players, including 13 players with fully guaranteed pacts. The forward will have his work cut out for him in his attempt to make the opening night roster with New York’s current depth at the three spot.

Knicks Sign Sasha Vujacic

August 7th, 2015 at 1:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

AUGUST 7TH, 1:31pm: The deal is official, the team announced (Twitter link).

AUGUST 1ST, 4:31pm: Agent Herb Rudoy told Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News that the contract is fully guaranteed (Twitter link).

JULY 31ST, 3:39pm: The contract will be guaranteed, Charania indicates on Twitter, running counter to previous reports (below).

2:41pm: It’s mostly non-guaranteed, according to Marc Berman and Jonathan Lehman of the New York Post.

2:34pm: It’ll be for the minimum salary, Charania writes in a full story. So, he’d make the $1,356,146 eight-year veteran’s minimum if he remains under contract through the season, but since it’s a one-year deal, the Knicks would only have to pay the two-year veteran’s minimum of $947,276, with the league footing the rest of the bill.

1:55pm: The arrangement is believed to be a training camp deal, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com, which suggests that it is no more than partially guaranteed.

1:11pm: The Knicks and Sasha Vujacic have agreed to a one-year deal, league sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). David Pick of Eurobasket.com reported Thursday that the sides had engaged in talks. The 31-year-old has appeared in only two NBA games since the 2011 lockout, but it appears his connection with Knicks team president Phil Jackson, Vujacic’s coach when they were with the Lakers, has drawn him back to the Association.

New York is also reportedly expected to sign draft-and-stash prospect Thanasis Antetokounmpo, and adding him and Vujacic would give the Knicks deals with 16 players. New York, at present, has only 11 fully guaranteed contracts, presuming that’s the case for the newly re-signed Lou Amundson, and Wesley Saunders and Darion Atkins seem like longshots to make the regular season roster, so Vujacic seems to stand a decent chance of sticking around for opening night.

Vujacic played parts of seven seasons with the Lakers, mostly with Jackson as his coach, picking up a pair of championship rings in a reserve role. He was a much more prominent figure for the Nets after a trade sent him to New Jersey early in the 2010/11 season, averaging 11.4 points in 28.5 minutes per game, but just as his NBA career seemed to be heating up, he headed overseas. The native of Slovenia has played in Turkey, Italy and Spain since his last full NBA season, stopping back in the NBA only for a single 10-day contract with the Clippers in 2013/14.

Knicks Sign Kevin Seraphin

August 6th, 2015 at 1:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:01pm: The deal is official, the team announced (Twitter link).

THURSDAY, 9:44am: Seraphin’s agency, Klutch Sports, tweeted a photo that shows the big man putting pen to paper as he sits next to Knicks GM Steve Mills, so evidently, the contract is signed, though the Knicks have yet to make a formal announcement.

TUESDAY, 10:11am: The Knicks and Kevin Seraphin have reached agreement on a one-year, $2.8MM deal, a league source tells Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). It would appear New York is using its $2.814MM room exception on the free agent center and Rich Paul client who figures to become the primary backup for Robin Lopez, whom the Knicks signed in July.

The Wizards, for whom Seraphin has played all of his five NBA seasons, and Lakers were still in pursuit as of last week, as Scotto reported then. The Suns and Mavs appeared to be suitors in the early going, while the Spurs and Thunder reportedly saw him as a fallback option. The former 17th overall pick had seemingly been looking for an opportunity to start, but outside of the Mavs, none of the teams in the race for him appear to have openings in the middle. He played this past season as a backup to Marcin Gortat in Washington after signing his qualifying offer last summer.

New York has only been carrying 12 guaranteed deals, as our roster counts show, so there’s certainly room enough for Seraphin, who presumably becomes the 13th. Langston Galloway figures to stick on his partially guaranteed contract, and the team is reportedly expected to sign Thanasis Antetokounmpo, so the addition of Seraphin does make it especially difficult to envision Darion Atkins or Wesley Saunders making it to opening night on their camp deals.

Do you think Seraphin is the right guy for the Knicks to use their room exception on? Leave a comment to let us know.

Eastern Notes: Afflalo, Hilliard, Bucks

August 5th, 2015 at 5:51pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Arron Afflalo, who inked a two-year deal worth $16MM with the Knicks this offseason, told Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link) that Carmelo Anthony played a big part in his decision to come to New York. The guard indicated that he spoke with Anthony prior to and during the free agent signing period, and Afflalo believes that Melo was instrumental in his signing with the team, tweets Al Iannazzone of Newsday, and Afflalo also noted that the Knicks received a glowing recommendation regarding himself from Anthony, who was a former teammate of Afflalo’s in Denver, Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News adds (on Twitter).

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Afflalo also indicated that he and Anthony are extremely optimistic about the Knicks‘ chances at making the playoffs this coming season, Begley adds (Twitter links).
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker plans to sign a bill next week that will provide $250MM in taxpayer money to pay for a new arena for the Bucks, the Associated Press reports. The public funding plan for the proposed arena had previously been approved by the Wisconsin State Assembly by a 52-34 vote.
Darrun Hilliard, who the Pistons drafted with the No. 38 overall pick and officially signed to a three-year deal, will have the first year of his contract with Detroit fully guaranteed, and he received a $500k partial guarantee for the second year, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders relays (via Twitter).
Adonis Thomas received a partial guarantee of $60k for the 2015/16 campaign from the Pistons, Pincus tweets. The forward inked a training camp deal with the team in July.

Knicks Among Teams Interested In Norris Cole

August 4th, 2015 at 11:28am CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks have joined the Sixers and incumbent Pelicans as teams interested in restricted free agent Norris Cole, but New Orleans seems likely to either re-sign him or match another team’s offer sheet, according to Hoops Rumors contributor Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net (Twitter link). However, New York has reportedly agreed to a deal with fellow Rich Paul client Kevin Seraphin for the apparent cost of the $2.814MM room exception, limiting the Knicks to the minimum salary if they can’t engineer a sign-and-trade.

Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops identified the Sixers as a suitor in mid-July, around the same time that John Reid of The Times Picayune heard that the Pelicans remained interested. New Orleans has only been willing to go so far, as Reid reported about a month ago, and the most recent dispatch from Scotto indicated that Cole saw the prospect of signing his $3.037MM qualifying offer as a viable option.

New York is relatively thin in the backcourt, with Langston Galloway and Jerian Grant poised to become the primary backups for Jose Calderon and Arron Afflalo. Galloway and Grant have just a half-season of NBA experience between them, while Cole was in the rotation for back-to-back champs as a member of the Heat. The Wizards, Thunder, Bucks and Cavs all reportedly had interest in trading for Cole while he was still with the Heat as the February trade deadline approached, but as a restricted free agent months after Miami sent him to the Pelicans in the three-team Goran Dragic trade, the market for him has seemed cooler.

Do you think Cole will sign an offer sheet with the Knicks, Sixers or another team, or do you think he and the Pelicans will work something out? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Eastern Notes: J.R. Smith, Carmelo, Hawks

August 3rd, 2015 at 3:43pm CST by Chuck Myron

Eastern Conference teams have lured more veterans than Western Conference teams so far in free agency and trades this offseason, as I examined late last month, but the East didn’t really make a dent in terms of star power. The chasm between the conferences seemingly remains wide, and with the Western Conference elite further strengthening, it seems the easiest path to the Finals will again run through the East, though the defending conference champion Cavs might dispute that. Check out a Cleveland-related item amid the latest from the Eastern Conference:

J.R. Smith said he wants to “be somewhere I can make a difference” as he discussed his free agency with reporters in Guam, where he held a camp with close friend and recent Heat signee Gerald Green, notes Grant Wieman of the Pacific Daily News (hat tip to Chris Fedor of the Northeast Ohio Media Group). Smith said two weeks ago that he’d like to re-sign with the Cavaliers. “I would love to be a starter, but it depends on the situation and what team I’m on,” Smith said. “Cleveland is in a situation where they don’t really need me to start. I can come off the bench and bring the energy and stuff like that.”
Knicks broadcaster and team employee Walt “Clyde” Frazier wonders in an interview with Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com whether Carmelo Anthony will ask for a trade if the team doesn’t make noticeable progress this year. It wouldn’t be surprising if Anthony did just that, given lingering questions about whether team president Phil Jackson, coach Derek Fisher and the triangle can succeed and the challenge of attracting marquee free agents to a losing team, as Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal speculates (All Twitter links).
The deals that Lamar Patterson and Terran Petteway signed with the Hawks are both two-year, minimum-salary arrangments with $75K partial guarantees for this season, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).

Atlantic Notes: Porzingis, Jackson, Embiid

August 3rd, 2015 at 11:47am CST by Chuck Myron

Knicks team president Phil Jackson mentioned six draft prospects that he liked in a late-March interview with confidant Charlie Rosen, posted today on ESPN.com, but none of them were Kristaps Porzingis, the Latvian power forward whom the Knicks selected No. 4 overall. Scout Clarence Gaines was perhaps the most influential advocate for Porzingis within the organization, though dropping to the fourth spot in the order because of poor lottery luck no doubt played a major role in New York’s choice. Jackson signaled to Rosen that he preferred the more NBA-ready Jahlil Okafor to Karl-Anthony Towns, but both were off the board by the time the Knicks picked. See more from Jackson amid the latest Atlantic Division news here:

Jackson had praise for Alexey Shved, Lance Thomas and Andrea Bargnani but lost affection for Quincy Acy‘s play, as Rosen details. The Knicks boss also had criticism for Jason Smith‘s reaction to coming off the bench. All five were free agents this summer, but only Thomas re-signed with the Knicks.
The Zen Master indicated that he saw Marc Gasol and DeAndre Jordan as the prime movers of free agency this summer as far as the Knicks were concerned, but he didn’t mention LaMarcus Aldridge. Of course, Aldridge at that point seemed like a safe bet to re-sign with the Trail Blazers. He instead signed with the Spurs after he and the Knicks mutually decided to cancel a meeting. Jordan met with the Knicks but re-signed with the Clippers, and Gasol didn’t meet with any other teams before signing his new deal with the Grizzlies.
The Sixers said on July 11th that Joel Embiid would have a bone graft surgery within seven to 10 days, but the Philadelphia organization has since made no mention of any surgery for the big man and a team source tells Jake Fischer of SI Now that the Sixers don’t plan any statement this week (Twitter link). The No. 3 pick from 2014 is likely to miss a second consecutive season this year, and an October 31st deadline looms for a decision on his team option of more than $4.826MM for 2016/17.
Amin Elhassan and Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com, in an Insider-only piece, debate the paths by which the Celtics can acquire championship-level talent. Boston will have cap flexibility to go after a maximum-salary free agent next summer, but even though the trade market for stars isn’t hot now, that can change and offer the C’s an easier route than free agency would.

Atlantic Notes: Amundson, Thomas, Holmes

August 2nd, 2015 at 7:56pm CST by Chuck Myron

Here’s a look at the latest contract news from the Atlantic Division:

The value of Lou Amundson‘s one-year contract with the Knicks is precisely $1,635,476, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, the greatest amount they could have given him via Non-Bird rights. It’s fully guaranteed, Pincus also shows.
The $1,636,842 Lance Thomas gets in his guaranteed one-year deal with the Knicks exceeds the Non-Bird amount, so New York used cap space to accommodate his contract, Pincus reports on the same page.
The value of the deal between the Sixers and No. 37 overall pick Richaun Holmes is precisely $4,202,784, reports Pincus (Twitter link).

And-Ones: D-League, Kaminsky, Towns

August 2nd, 2015 at 5:01pm CST by Zachary Links

Here’s a look around the Association..

Adam Johnson of D-League Digest looked at the D-League’s salary structure. As Johnson learned from multiple league sources and agents, the league has a three-tiered salary system for the simplicity of making deals with players. The “A” salary is $25K, “B” salaries are $19K, and “C” salaries are $13K. Interestingly enough, players are sometimes asked to downgrade to accommodate a signing. “If a player is designated an “A” contract but the team wants to bring on an additional “B” player, they might ask the “A” player to reduce their salary to a “B” level to compensate for the difference,” according to a league source. “It’s a balancing act. You can have four “A” contracts at one point in the season, but that team will need to correct that amount of salary at some point with more “C” contracts so they don’t go over the salary cap.”
The numbers say that rookies Frank Kaminsky and Delon Wright are poised to make a noticeable impact in 2015/16, Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req’d) writes. Unsurprisingly, it’s Wolves rookie Karl-Anthony Towns who is projected to have the best year of any first-year player. Lakers rookie D’Angelo Russell and Knicks rook Kristaps Porzingis round out the top five.
Steve Ilardi and Jeremias Engelmann of ESPN.com ran down the winners and losers in free agency this summer. Of course, the Spurs are among the offseason’s biggest winners after landing ex-Blazers star LaMarcus Aldridge and former Pacers forward David West. The ESPN duo also gave a tip of the cap to the Celtics for their savvy under-the-radar moves.

Atlantic Notes: Nets, Knicks, Celtics

August 1st, 2015 at 10:48am CST by Will Joseph

Nets coach Lionel Hollins, in a Q&A with Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com, likes that Brooklyn was able to get younger and more versatile this offseason. The coach also believes Deron Williams did not play as well as the franchise would have liked him to. Hollins said he also thinks Williams, who signed with the Mavs, will bounce back, though. Without Williams in the fold, Hollins is confident Jarrett Jack can handle the duties of starting point guard for the Nets. In addition, Joe Johnson, who was the subject of trade rumors earlier this summer, will likely start at shooting guard, according to Hollins.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

The search for the Knicks‘ new D-League coach is down to Mike Miller, a former associate head coach at Kansas State, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reports (Twitter links). Miller also worked for the Spurs’ D-League team, Isola notes.
Thomas Robinson, who the Nets signed to a two-year deal, wants a “long-term relationship” with Brooklyn after the forward has bounced around in the league, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily writes.
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge believes that Boston coach Brad Stevens will be viewed as one of the all-time coaching greats in the future. “I wouldn’t have brought him in and given him a six-year contract if I didn’t think he was really good and special,” Ainge said during an on-camera interview with Comcast SportsNet (relayed by Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com).