Spurs Notes: Leonard, Joseph, Aldridge, West
Spurs GM R.C. Buford concedes he’s not sure anyone in the organization thought Kawhi Leonard would blossom as much as he has during his NBA career, a development that shooting coach Chad Engelland and player development coach Chad Forcier have aided, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News details. It’s a testament to Leonard, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, and to the Spurs, as Leonard’s agent Brian Elfus admits.
“At the end of the day, the draft is about where you end up, what kind of situation you’re in,” Elfus said. “I’ve got a strange suspicion — no, I know for a fact — if Kawhi had ended up in a different place, he wouldn’t be nearly the player he is today. I think everybody counts their blessings every day he ended up in San Antonio.”
See more from San Antonio:
- Raptors signee Cory Joseph, a Toronto native, wasn’t eager to leave the Spurs, but he knew that with the arrival of LaMarcus Aldridge and a new max deal coming to Leonard, the team wouldn’t have much left over for him, as he tells TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. “It’s always hard, leaving somewhere that you’re comfortable in,” Joseph said. “You’re comfortable with the system, comfortable in the city, comfortable with the people there. So it’s always tough. It obviously made it a lot more easier ’cause I was coming home. I knew it was a good situation for me basketball wise as well. That’s how it goes business-wise. I couldn’t complain. They were getting a great basketball player in LaMarcus.”
- Aldridge hasn’t found his hot spots on the floor thus far with the Spurs, but Gregg Popovich believes that’s not necessarily a product of the uniqueness of San Antonio’s system, relays Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. “No matter what system he’s in, there’s going to be a learning curve,” Popovich said. “It doesn’t matter who he’s playing for this year. If it’s not Portland, he’s going to have to learn the system.”
- David West has been efficient in his fairly limited playing time as a reserve for the Spurs, but it’s the maturity, professionalism and leadership that the minimum-salary signee has brought to the locker room that’s really stood out to Popovich, observes Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News.
Spurs Notes: Popovich, Aldridge, Leonard
Spurs coach/president Gregg Popovich was hesitant to make a definitive statement about how long he’d continue before retiring, but when the question came up while he was pitching LaMarcus Aldridge on signing with the Spurs this summer, he knew he had to answer, as Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe details.
“He outed me,” Popovich said to Washburn. “He put the pressure on me. Who knows when you might want to retire, but he and his agent sat across, and [the agent] said, ‘Ask him, ask him, go ahead and ask him.’ I knew it was coming, so I tried to end the meeting, ‘OK, we gotta go eat. We gotta do something.’ [The agent] said, ‘No, no, ask him.’ That’s when he hit me: ‘What are you going to do? How long are you going to be here?’ I said, ‘I’m here.’ I had just signed a five-year [extension] a year before. The contract was in place, so I told him I’ll be here.”
It’s unclear whether it was departing Wasserman Media Group agent Arn Tellem or another agency representative who prompted Aldridge to ask the question, but regardless, the Aldridge signing apparently secured more than just a star power forward for San Antonio. See more on the Spurs:
- Popovich also told Washburn that he and GM R.C. Buford initially weren’t quite sure how to approach Aldridge. “R.C. and I sat in a room and just looked at each other and just said, ‘What do we do now?’” Popovich said. “We don’t know how to do this. So we just decided to be who we are. ‘This is us, you know who we are, you wanna come or not?’”
- Kawhi Leonard‘s ability to perform so well on both ends of the floor is “spectacular,” according to Popovich, who applauds the faith he showed when the Spurs decided against an extension last year before re-signing him this past summer, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio News-Express relays. “He trusted us,” Popovich said. “We think everything comes at its own pace, at the appropriate time. I think he understood that, and his agent [Brian Elfus] understood it. He knows our history.”
- The Spurs are 4-2 so far, but with key figures Aldridge and David West among the team’s six newcomers, they must make adjustments before hitting their stride, as TNT’s David Aldridge examines in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.
Southwest Notes: Terry, Grizzlies, Leonard, Gentry
The Pelicans offered Jason Terry more than the guaranteed one-year deal for the minimum salary that the Rockets gave him, but he preferred a better chance to make the Finals with Houston, even though his role on the Rockets will likely shrink, reports Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com.
“I don’t have to play a lot of minutes to be effective,” Terry said. “With the minutes, I know my role and what’s expected out of me, and that goes a long way.”
Terry saw 21.3 minutes per game for Houston in the regular season last year but 28.6 in the playoffs as he filled in for the injured Patrick Beverley, a duty that would now fall to trade acquisition Ty Lawson. See more from the Southwest Division:
- The Grizzlies‘ addition of Brandan Wright and subtraction of Kosta Koufos sacrifices defense, and especially rebounding, for the sake of offense, as Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal examines. That leads Herrington to wonder if Marc Gasol should undo some of his changes from last season, when he tilted his game more toward the offensive end.
- Kawhi Leonard had made a total of less than $8.5MM in his first four years in the NBA before re-signing with the Spurs on five-year max deal worth more than $94MM this summer, but he’s more enthusiastic about the length of the contract than the money involved, notes Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News.
- Alvin Gentry is adopting a looser, more relaxed approach with the Pelicans than former coach Monty Williams did, incorporating some techniques from the year he spent as an assistant under Steve Kerr with the Warriors, as John Reid of The Times Picayune details.
Sixers Notes: Leonard, Brown, Okafor, Stauskas
The Sixers “sniffed around” the idea of an offer sheet for Kawhi Leonard earlier this summer, sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe, who adds that the team was simply performing its due diligence. The same is true of the Sixers and Jimmy Butler, Lowe hears. Butler had reportedly been scheduled to meet with Philadelphia but put those plans aside while he considered an offer from the Bulls, with whom he eventually re-signed. Leonard re-signed with the Spurs. The primary focus of Lowe’s piece is on former No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett, whom the Sixers are apparently looking into adding. See more from Philly:
- Sixers coach Brett Brown reiterated Wednesday that he has no intention of getting out of his contract before it’s up at the end of the 2016/17 season and again indicated a lack of a desire to push the team for an extension, as Tom Moore of Calkins Media details.
- Brown also called the pairing of Nerlens Noel and No. 3 overall pick Jahlil Okafor “a tremendous challenge,” given their positional overlap, and said that while trade acquisition Nik Stauskas has plenty of potential, he “has a long ways to go,” as Moore notes in the same piece.
- The coach called the identity of the team’s starting point guard the “greatest mystery” for the Sixers, observes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The team signed Kendall Marshall to the largest free agent contract that it’s handed out during the tenure of GM Sam Hinkie, but his timetable for a return from injury is unclear.
- The Sixers may have less roster turnover than in the past two years, and Brown isn’t short on optimism, but the team still lacks the talent necessary to compete, argues John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News.
Southwest Notes: Lawson, Williams, Pondexter
Ty Lawson says he’s ready for basketball again after a 30-day alcohol rehabilitation stint that followed two arrests in seven months and expressed excitement about joining coach Kevin McHale, James Harden, Dwight Howard and former Nuggets teammate Corey Brewer on the Rockets, as he conveyed in an interview with Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston. Lawson agreed to give up the guarantee on his 2016/17 to facilitate the trade that sent him from Denver to Houston this summer.
“I’m about winning,” Lawson said to Berman. “I love being on a winning team. At every level I’ve played at, high school, middle school, college I won championships. This is a chance to play for one of those and get an NBA ring. I’m ready for it.”
See more from the Southwest Division:
- Deron Williams is excited to play with Dirk Nowitzki and former Jazz teammate Wesley Matthews and for the chance at a new beginning with the Mavericks, as he tells Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com. “You know, there’s definitely a stability about this organization that’s definitely intriguing,” Williams said. You know, they have guys that have been here forever, so it’s just about plugging in the new pieces — myself included — and just trying to get to work. But, you know, I’m just excited about this opportunity, and I’m ready to get the season going.”
- It’s unclear if Quincy Pondexter will be healthy in time for the start of Pelicans training camp, writes John Reid of The Times Picayune, though while Pondexter admitted on SiriusXM NBA Radio that rehab from left knee surgery in May has been slow-going, he’s hopeful that he won’t miss much time, if any, Reid notes (audio link). Pondexter is due a guaranteed salary of more than $3.382MM this season, but the team added depth at small forward this summer with the free agent signing of Alonzo Gee.
- Kawhi Leonard, fresh off his new deal with the Spurs, said he’ll try to win an MVP award, as David Zink of The Press-Enterprise wrote last month, but going for that honor would require significant change to his game and upset the offensive balance with which he and the Spurs have found so much success, argues Ian Levy of The Sporting News.
Southwest Notes: Gee, Cunningham, Barea, Spurs
The Pelicans used a portion of their mid-level exception to sign Alonzo Gee and Dante Cunningham, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders passes along (on Twitter). Gee will earn $1.32MM this season, while Cunningham will take home a bit more at $2.85MM. That means New Orleans still has $1.294MM of its mid-level exception remaining and 10 guaranteed contracts on the books. We’ve got more contract details in tonight’s look at the Southwest Division:
- The front-loaded deal J.J Barea inked with the Mavericks will pay him slightly more than $16MM over four years, as Pincus reveals in his updated Dallas salary page. He’ll earn $4.29MM this season, $4,096,950 the following year, $3,903,900 in year three, and $3,710,850 during the 2018/19 season. The Mavs upped the Puerto Rican guard’s yearly salaries after missing out on DeAndre Jordan.
- It has been a busy offseason in San Antonio, and the most overlooked move that the Spurs have made is the addition of 7’3” center Boban Marjanovic, as David Pick details for Bleacher Report. Marjanovic was a relative unknown prior to last season, but his efficient play and massive size netted him some lucrative offers from European teams that he turned down in favor of the Spurs, as Pick relays.
- LaMarcus Aldridge, Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, David West, and Danny Green all have player options in the final years of their contracts, as Pincus notes on his updated Spurs salary page.
Spurs Re-Sign Kawhi Leonard For Five Years
JULY 16TH, 4:05pm: The deal is official, the Spurs announced in a press release.
JULY 1ST, 4:00pm: The deal includes a player option for the fifth year, Zach Lowe of Grantland reports (on Twitter).
JUNE 30TH, 11:13pm: The Spurs will re-sign Kawhi Leonard for five years and an estimated $90MM, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The sides have agreed to a framework of a deal, as Wojnarowski details.
“I have every intention of signing with the San Antonio Spurs,” Leonard said in a statement, as Wojnarowski passes along. “There are details in the contract which need to be worked out with the organization. I am confident that this will be accomplished.”
The deal was agreed to just minutes after midnight on the East Coast, but the two sides still have to iron out some specifics over the next several days. The language in the statement (“every intention”) and the report (“agreed to the framework”) could be an inference to suggest that the Spurs will take their time in finalizing the pact. By waiting, the Spurs could avoid getting charged with max cap hit so that Leonard’s cap hold stays low, thereby preserving cap room for other free agents.
Leonard, 24, averaged 16.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists last season. While Tim Duncan and Tony Parker were the anchors for many elite Spurs outfits, Leonard can be expected to be the cornerstone of future contending teams. Leonard’s resume includes the 2014 Finals MVP and this past season’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
Back in April, it was reported that Leonard was unlikely to pursue offer sheets, even though he had the ability to as a restricted free agent.
Free Agency Rumors: LeBron, Cavs, Leonard
A league source told Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group that the Cavs “do not value” pending free agent J.R. Smith. LeBron James reportedly wants the Cavs to re-sign the guard, so one has to wonder if that could outweigh the team’s reservations about him. Vardon adds that it is not known if the Cavs will immediately submit offers to James, Kevin Love, and Tristan Thompson when the clock moves past midnight. Here’s more as we get set for the start of free agency..
- There’s a growing belief that Thompson’s postseason performance coupled with his ties to LeBron could earn him a max contract or something close to it, Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon-Journal writes. Lloyd also writes that the Cavs were aware that Iman Shumpert would be seeking a ~$10MM per year deal this summer when the acquired him.
- Spurs star Kawhi Leonard is on track for five-year, ~$90MM max deal after San Antonio takes care of other free agency business, Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express News tweets. It was previously believed that Leonard was in line for a lucrative four-year deal rather than five.
- Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki will join the team’s recruiting contingent in Wednesday’s meetings with DeAndre Jordan and LaMarcus Aldridge, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com tweets.
- James Harden will join coach Kevin McHale, GM Daryl Morey and executive VP Gersson Rosas in the Rockets‘ meeting with LaMarcus Aldridge Tuesday night in Los Angeles, a source tells Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
- The Knicks‘ selection of Kristaps Porzingis may scare free agents away, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. “They took a Latvian guy who may or may not be good,’’ an individual connected to a free agent said. “It’s very strange. They should’ve taken more of a tried-and-true guy, even a Justise Winslow. Top free agents are looking at winning now. It’s fun to go the playoffs and have a chance to compete for the Finals. They’re not going to win this year.’’
Qualifying Offers: Tuesday
Here are the latest qualifying offer decisions to come in..
- The Spurs extended QOs to Kawhi Leonard and Cory Joseph, making them restricted free agents, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
- Knicks forwards Travis Wear and Alexey Shved and Spurs big man Aron Baynes did not receive qualifying offers, according to Pincus (on Twitter).
- Pacers forwards Chris Copeland and Shayne Whittington, Sixers center Henry Sims, Nuggets center Ian Clark, Celtics center Gigi Datome, Wolves big man Arinze Onuaku, Mavs center Bernard James, Lakers guard Vander Blue, and Kings forward Derrick Williams did not receive qualifying offers, Pincus tweets.
- The Grizzlies have made Nick Calathes a restricted free agent by extending him a QO, according to Pincus (on Twitter).
- The Warriors have made Ognjen Kuzmic a restricted free agent, Pincus tweets.
Earlier Updates:
- The Sixers declined to offer guard Glenn Robinson III a qualifying offer, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. However, Philly has shown an inclination to revisit a longer-term deal for Robinson this summer, according to those same sources. In 35 games as a rookie, Robinson averaged 2.1 PPG.
- The Hornets will not make a qualifying offer to guard Jeffery Taylor, according to a source that spoke with Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (on Twitter). Taylor will now become an unrestricted free agent.
- Pero Antic, who was rumored to be going overseas, was given a qualifying offer by the Hawks, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). If the Hawks need to maximize their cap space, Pincus adds (link), they can revoke the qualifying offer to Antic and renounce him.
- As expected, the Magic have extended qualifying offers to both Tobias Harris and Kyle O’Quinn, according to John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com (on Twitter).
- The Rockets made Patrick Beverley and K.J. McDaniels restricted free agents by extending QOs to them, Pincus tweets.
Spurs Rumors: Aldridge, Splitter, Leonard, Duncan
Sources who spoke with Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News didn’t produce a consensus on the chances the Spurs have of landing LaMarcus Aldridge, with some deeming San Antonio the front-runner while others weren’t so sure. The Spurs and Lakers were the co-favorites, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reported Friday, though the notoriously fickle power forward is tough to read. McDonald has a ton more on the weeks ahead for San Antonio, and while his entire piece is worth a read, especially for Spurs fans, we’ll round up the most relevant highlights here:
- The Spurs are making Tiago Splitter available for a trade, multiple league sources tell McDonald, but while McDonald posits that the most direct path to landing Aldridge would be via sign-and-trade in a deal that sends Splitter to Portland, the Blazers are uninterested, McDonald writes. The Spurs turned away teams with interest in trading for Splitter before the draft, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote last week, but perhaps San Antonio’s position has changed.
- Kawhi Leonard‘s preferred deal is four years at the max, according to McDonald, not five. Either way, the Spurs are still expected to re-sign him, McDonald notes.
- Tim Duncan still hasn’t made up his mind about returning, a source familiar with his thinking told McDonald. The Spurs have reportedly been operating on the premise that he and Manu Ginobili will re-sign with them rather than retire.