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17 Players Vying For Spots On USA’s AmeriCup Roster

August 17th, 2017 at 9:02am CST by Luke Adams

USA Basketball has begun the process of selecting its roster for the AmeriCup 2017, the first of a series of qualifying tournaments under FIBA’s new format. As Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press details, Team USA doesn’t need to win the AmeriCup to qualify for the next World Cup and Olympics, but it’s a tournament the U.S. must participate in to eventually play in more crucial events.

Because upcoming qualifiers will take place during the NBA season, Team USA is putting together a roster primarily made up of G League players and veterans who have been playing overseas, as we previously learned. With training camp set to begin on Thursday, 17 hopefuls are suiting up for Team USA, with the program poised to eventually pare that group down to a 12-man roster.

Here are Team USA’s training camp participants, via USA Basketball:

Billy Baron (UCAM Murcia, Spain)
Rod Benson (Wonju Dongbu Promy, South Korea)
Alec Brown (Windy City Bulls)
Will Davis II (Reno Bighorns)
Larry Drew II (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
Reggie Hearn (Reno Bighorns)
Darrun Hilliard (Detroit Pistons)
Jonathan Holmes (Canton Charge)
Ra’Shad James (Cedevita Zagreb, Croatia)
Kendall Marshall (Reno Bighorns)
Darius Morris (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
Xavier Munford (Greensboro Swarm)
Marshall Plumlee (New York Knicks)
Jameel Warney (Texas Legends)
C.J. Williams (Texas Legends)
Reggie Williams (Oklahoma City Blue)
Derek Willis (University of Kentucky)

Although there are no high-profile names in this group, several players have some NBA experience. Hilliard is currently a free agent, but appeared in 77 games over the last two seasons for the Pistons. Drew, Munford, and Plumlee have all played in at least a dozen NBA games.

Marshall, Morris, and Reggie Williams are perhaps the most notable names on the list, having played regular rotation roles for various NBA teams in recent years. Marshall was a lottery pick in the 2012 draft, while Williams has appeared in more than 200 NBA games since 2010.

None of the players on Team USA’s training camp roster are currently under contract with an NBA club, but Willis – the only player of the group who has yet to play professional ball – has reportedly agreed to a training camp deal with the Pistons.

The club will be coached by Jeff Van Gundy, an international rookie himself, and will eventually participate in preliminary round games in Uruguay later this month. If Team USA wins its group – which also includes Panama, the Dominican Republic, and host Uruguay – it would advance to the semifinals in Argentina in early September.

As Mahoney outlines in his report, Team USA won’t face real pressure to win until November, when the club need a top-three finish in a pool that includes Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Cuba in order to start advancing to later qualifiers. For more in-depth details on how those qualifiers work, be sure to check out FIBA’s breakdowns for the 2019 World Cup and the 2020 Olympics.

NBA D-League Affiliate Players For 2016/17

November 3rd, 2016 at 12:35pm CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the offseason, and in the weeks leading up to the start of the regular season, NBA teams are permitted to carry 20 players, but that total must be cut down to 15 in advance of opening night. However, up to four players waived by teams before the season can be designated as affiliate players and assigned to their D-League squads.

The players have some say in the decision — if they’d prefer to sign with a team overseas, or if they get an opportunity with another NBA club, they’re free to turn down their team’s request to have them play in the D-League. Most NBA and international teams have fairly set rosters by late October though, so having the opportunity to continue playing in the same system is appealing to many of those preseason cuts. Especially since they’ll maintain NBA free agency while they play in the D-League.

There are a few other rules related to D-League affiliate players. A player whose returning rights are held by a D-League team can’t be an affiliate player for another club, which is why undrafted free agents from the current year are commonly signed and assigned. Additionally, an affiliate player must have signed with his team during the current league year, which explains why we often see players signed and quickly waived in the days leading up to the regular season. And, of course, not every NBA team has a D-League affiliate, so clubs like the Hawks, Nuggets, or Clippers have no place to send affiliate players.

With all that in mind, here are the NBA D-League affiliate players to start the 2016/17 season:

Austin Spurs (San Antonio Spurs)

Canton Charge (Cleveland Cavaliers)

Jonathan Holmes
Eric Moreland

Delaware 87ers (Philadelphia 76ers)

Southwest Notes: Stephenson, Green, Cousins

October 22nd, 2016 at 7:56pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Pelicans have 16 players under contract and it appears the final roster spot is between Lance Stephenson, whose contract is non-guaranteed, and Alonzo Gee, John Reid of The Times-Picayune notes on Twitter. New Orleans has until 5:00pm eastern time on Monday to make a decision.

Here’s more from the Southwest division:

Danny Green will miss three weeks with a quad injury, according to the team’s website. Green missed the Spurs‘ final preseason game on Friday and Kyle Anderson started in his place.
C.J. Williams and Jaleel Cousins are expected to play for the Texas Legends, the D-League affiliate of the Mavericks, according to D-League Digest (Twitter link). Both players were waived by Dallas earlier today.
DeMarcus Cousins will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2017/18 season and the Mavericks are expected make a hard push to sign the big man, Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com tweets.

Mavericks Waive Five Players, Keep Dorian Finney-Smith

October 22nd, 2016 at 5:35pm CST by ChrisCrouse

5:35pm: The team has indeed waived the five players, Marc J. Spears of ESPN.com confirms (Twitter link).

SATURDAY 5:25pm: The Mavs will waive Jonathan Gibson, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link). MacMahon adds that Dallas will opt to give Dorian Finney-Smith its 15th and final roster spot, meaning the team will also waive Kyle Collinsworth, Keith Hornsby, Jaleel Cousins and C.J. Williams.

Gibson’s release is particularly surprising because his minimum salary deal is fully guaranteed for the upcoming year. Dallas also chose to keep Nicolas Brussino, whose contract became guaranteed on Thursday.

Brussino and Finney Smith are both forwards and the Mavericks appear to be looking for upside and versatility in the players they keep at the end of their bench. Gibson, who turns 29 next month, doesn’t fit that profile. He can score the ball, but he has limitations on the defensive end.

Contract Details: Bulls, Knicks, Kings, Mavericks

September 21st, 2016 at 11:53am CST by Luke Adams

The three camp invitees recently signed by the Bulls got one-year, non-guaranteed summer contracts, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Vince Hunter, and J.J. Avila are therefore probably unlikely to make Chicago’s roster, though they could eventually be ticketed for the team’s new D-League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls.

In addition to providing the contract details for those three Chicago signings, Pincus passes along a few more contract notes from around the NBA, so let’s round them up…

As expected, Lou Amundson‘s new one-year deal with the Knicks will pay him $1.55MM+ while counting for just $980K against the team’s cap. Amundson’s contract is fully guaranteed, and will give him the opportunity to veto trades, Pincus notes (via Twitter).
Despite his extensive NBA experience, Jordan Farmar didn’t get any guaranteed money from the Kings, signing a minimum-salary summer contract with the team, according to Pincus. Farmar and Ty Lawson essentially have the same non-guaranteed one-year deal with Sacramento, so the team will likely end up carrying just one of those two players into the regular season.
C.J. Williams, the Mavericks‘ 20th man, got a non-guaranteed, one-year summer contract from the club, per Pincus. Williams, a 6’5″ guard, could end up playing for Dallas’ D-League squad, the Texas Legends.

Mavs Sign C.J. Williams, Finalize Camp Roster

September 19th, 2016 at 10:59am CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks have filled up their offseason roster, finalizing their 20-man unit for training camp, the team announced today in a press release. According to the release, the Mavs used their final open roster spot to sign free agent guard C.J. Williams.

Williams, who played his college ball at North Carolina State from 2008 to 2012, has spent time in various international leagues over the last several seasons, playing for teams in France, Italy, and Cyprus. The 26-year-old also had a stint with the D-League’s Los Angeles D-Fenders in 2013/14. Playing for JDA Dijon Bourgogne last season, Williams averaged 11.9 PPG, 27. RPG, and 1.5 APG in 34 French League contests.

Exact terms of Williams’ deal aren’t yet known, but it figures to be a non-guaranteed, minimum-salary pact. Assuming that’s the case, it would give Dallas six players without fully guaranteed salaries for 2016/17, with those six players likely competing for the 15th and final spot on the Mavs’ regular-season roster.

For the full breakdown of the other 19 players on the Mavs’ training camp roster, be sure to check out the club’s depth chart at RosterResource.com.