Joe Alexander

Warriors Favoring Dedmon?

Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said that it was safe to say that center DeWayne Dedmon is the favorite to land Golden State’s final roster spot, tweets Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group. The undrafted center out of USC is currently on a partially guaranteed contract, and has been in the mix with Seth Curry and Joe Alexander to earn a spot on the team.

Golden State currently has 13 guaranteed contracts and a total of 17 on their training camp roster. Three of the remaining players are on partially guaranteed deals (Kent Bazemore, Dedmon, Curry), while Alexander had been playing on a non-guaranteed contract. I think it’s reasonable to assume that Bazemore – who had an impressive summer league run for the team this year – takes up the penultimate roster spot, so it appears that Curry and Alexander may be the odd men out.

Through four pre-season contests, Dedmon is averaging 4.3 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 1.0 BPG in 10.8 MPG.

Warriors Sign Ognjen Kuzmic, Joe Alexander

The Warriors have officially signed 2012 second-round pick Ognjen Kuzmic and added Joe Alexander to their training camp roster, the team announced today in a press release. We heard back in August that Kuzmic was expected to join the Warriors, while Grantland's Zach Lowe reported this week that Alexander had received a training camp invite from the club.

Kuzmic, 23, averaged 6.9 PPG and 5.5 RPG in 27 Spanish League contests for FIATC Joventut Badalona in 2012/13. According to at least one report earlier this week, his salary for 2013/14 will be guaranteed, though that's not confirmed, and the specifics of his contract aren't yet known.

As for Alexander, he'll almost certainly be on a fully non-guaranteed camp deal, so he's far from assured a regular-season roster spot. Assuming Kuzmic's contract is guaranteed and Alexander's is not, the Warriors will head into camp with 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts, plus five more players on partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed deals.

Alexander, the eighth overall pick in 2008, appeared in only 67 NBA games for the Bucks and Bulls before falling out of the league. The 6'8" forward appeared to be headed to China last season, but a reported deal never materialized. As such, his most recent on-court action came in Russia with Krasnie Krilya in 2011/12.

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Training Camp Invites: Byars, Gadzuric, Alexander

While we've has plenty of training camp signings today – from Louis Amundson to Dwayne Jones to Sam Young to Renaldo Balkman to Eric Boateng and Darius Johnson-Odom – there is also news of training camp invites that have yet to be accepted.  Let's take a look at buzz from around the league that might help us determine who lands where in October:

  • The Grizzlies have extended a training camp invite to Memphis-native Derrick Byars, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).  Byars, 29, has spent most of the time since his Vanderbilt days playing overseas, minus two games with the Spurs in 2011/12 and a handful of D-League stints.  With only 13 guaranteed contracts, the Grizz have two potential open roster spots.
  • The Lakers have invited Dan Gadzuric to training camp, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles.  With the additions of Boateng and Johnson-Odom, Gadzuric would make 19 players in camp for the Lakers should he accept.  The UCLA product, 35, played in Venezuela last season after a decade in the NBA.  The Lakers only have 11 guaranteed deals on their roster, but there will be plenty of competition for the remaining spots.
  • Former Bucks first rounder Joe Alexander has received an invitation to training camp from the Warriors, tweets Zach Lowe of Grantland.  Alexander, the No. 8 pick of the 2008 draft, lasted only two years in the NBA out of West Virginia.  With Ognjen Kuzmic's arrival in Oakland reportedly imminent, the Warriors will have two potential regular season roster spots remaining.

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International Moves: Curry, Alexander, Erden

Basketball season is in full swing around the globe, and a few international players with NBA ties are making headlines. Here's the latest from overseas.

  • Sources tell HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy that Eddy Curry, let go by the Mavericks after he appeared in two early-season games, has signed to play in China with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls. The story was first reported by Sina Sports (Chinese link). Another Chinese club went after Curry shortly after the Mavs let him go, but he turned them down amid interest from other NBA teams. According to Kennedy, Curry has his eyes on a return to the NBA in February, when the Chinese season ends.
  • It seemed last week that Joe Alexander was also headed to China to play for the Liaoning Hunters, but the team has denied signing or having any interest in the former Bucks lottery pick, according to a Sports.QQ.com report (Chinese link, translation via Sportando). 
  • Semih Erden returned to his native Turkey to play this year after starting nine games for the Cavs last season, but the 7-footer is determined to make it back to the NBA, blaming injuries for his inability to stick the first time, as Orhun Özdemir of Trendbasket.net writes (hat tip to Sportando). "I’m back in Turkey because I failed to perform at my best in the NBA," the big man said. "I will recover from my injuries here and reach my top form again. I will be back in the NBA better than before."
  • Derrick Caracter, a second-round pick of the Lakers in 2010, is headed to Israel, as we heard earlier.

International Notes: Alexander, Singleton, Dunigan

Let's round up some of Friday's notes from a few non-NBA leagues around the globe….

  • Former eighth overall pick Joe Alexander has signed with the Liaoning Hunters of the Chinese Basketball Association, according to an Asia-Basket.com report (hat tip to Sportando).
  • Another former NBA player is back in China as well, with James Singleton joining the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, per Asia-Basket.com. Singleton, who played in 12 games for the Wizards last season, was rumored back in September to be signing with the Flying Tigers.
  • Michael Dunigan, a Grizzlies camp invitee this fall, has signed a one-month deal to play for the Perth Wildcats in Australia, according to Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype (Sulia link).
  • Another Grizzlies camp invitee, Jerome Jordan, is drawing interest from China and is also considering the D-League, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Jordan was said to be receiving some interest from Chinese teams while he was still in camp with the Grizzlies.