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Central Notes: Allen, Morris, Thompson

August 14th, 2015 at 9:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Lavoy Allen received incentive clauses on his three-year deal with the Pacers instead of the $1.5MM signing bonus that was originally reported, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). It appears that those incentives call for Allen to get an extra $500K each year if he keeps his weight down, Pincus also tweets. Allen is considered likely to make weight, so the cap hits of $4.05MM this season and $4MM each of the next two years remain the same, unless he fails to hit the target at preseason weigh-ins.

Here’s more out of the Central Division:

One of the reasons that the Pistons acquired Marcus Morris was to prevent 2015 first round draftee Stanley Johnson from being pressured to start and produce for the team immediately, David Mayo of MLive.com opines. Mayo also notes that Morris’ $5MM salary this season, and the $4.625MM he will earn for the 2016/17 campaign, will make him a bargain as a reserve player once Johnson assumes a starting role.
The Cavaliers need to be careful that whatever the outcome of their contract negotiations with restricted free agent Tristan Thompson, they don’t alienate LeBron James, who is on record as being a big supporter of the forward, Tom Ziller of SBNation writes. Though Ziller doesn’t necessarily believe that James would leave Cleveland again, he doesn’t think it wise for the franchise to roll the dice and risk losing the superstar next summer. Also complicating matters is the fact that Thompson’s agent, Rich Paul, also represents LeBron.
Earlier this evening we broke down the 2015/16 salary cap figures for the Pistons, and previously had done the same for the Bulls and Cavaliers, which can be viewed here and here.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Central Notes: Thompson, Love, Bulls, Douglas

August 14th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

LeBron James believes the Cavs front office has “done a great job” this summer, but the next step, he added, is to re-sign Tristan Thompson, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com chronicles. James and Thompson share Rich Paul as an agent.

“Our No. 1 objective right now is to sign Tristan,” James said Thursday at Cedar Point amusement park. “He’s a huge part of our team. Short term and long term he makes our team more dangerous.”

Keeping him for this season doesn’t appear to be the issue. Paul raised the specter of Thompson signing his one-year, approximately $6.778MM qualifying offer earlier this week, but the agent said that if that happened, Thompson wouldn’t re-sign with the Cavs in unrestricted free agency next season. The Cavs are offering less than the near-max that Thompson seeks, Windhorst notes. See more from Cleveland amid the latest from the Central Division:

James also expressed confidence that Kevin Love, who re-signed on a five-year deal earlier this summer, will function better this season than last, as Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. Love arranged a meeting with James earlier this summer. “He wanted to talk about the season, what could happen with the team going forward,” James said. “I was absolutely open to it. I was one of the people that wanted him there when we made the trade last summer. The fact that he committed to us let me know the type of guy we have. I think he’s going to be great for us. I think he’ll be an All-Star this year and a much more vocal part of the team this season.”
Jimmy Butler knows much hinges on the Bulls‘ coaching change and their ability to take advantage of opportunities, as Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com relays (Twitter links). “We got the same team. Is it enough? We’ll find out. It wasn’t enough last year. Only thing we changed was coach,” Butler said. “We got the same exact team. We had a chance. We were right there. If we’re healthy…we’ll be right in the same position.”
Toney Douglas understands he faces a challenge to make the opening night roster for the Pacers, a team that already has 15 fully guaranteed salaries to go along with his partially guaranteed deal, writes Manny Randhawa of the Indianapolis Star. President of basketball operations Larry Bird used the phrase “having him in camp” twice in the press release to announce the signing of Douglas, but the point guard isn’t discouraged. “We really haven’t gotten into detail about me being here, but I know I’m here for a reason,” Douglas said this week to reporters, including Randhawa. His contract covers one season, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.

Eastern Rumors: James, Wells, Pistons

August 3rd, 2015 at 10:32pm CST by Dana Gauruder

LeBron James will attend the USA Basketball minicamp meeting next week but will not attend the workouts, the team’s executive director Jerry Colangelo told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. Colangelo is uncertain of whether James wants to pursue another Olympic gold medal, Joe Vardon of Northeast Ohio Media Group reports. “One thing I need to find out: is he desirous, is he committed,” Colangelo told Vardon. “I don’t know that right now, and I need to find out at some point. An indicator will come next week when we see who shows up.” Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are expected to attend, though neither Cavs star will participate in the workouts or a scheduled scrimmage because they are still on the mend from their playoff injuries, Colangelo added to Vardon.

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

Dez Wells has been extended a training camp invite by the Wizards but he’s likely to turn it down, J. Michael of CSNWashington.com reports. The rookie guard from the University of Maryland was on Washington’s summer league roster but dislocated his right thumb prior to the Las Vegas summer league and did not play. Wells has five other training camp offers and feels his prospects with the Wizards are dim because they already have 15 players with guaranteed contracts, the story adds.
Adonis Thomas is guaranteed $60K of his $845,059 contract with the Pistons, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. The 6’7” shooting guard will be battling second-round pick Darrun Hilliard, among others, for a roster spot in training camp.

Central Notes: Shumpert, LeBron, Monroe

July 13th, 2015 at 1:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

Six teams offered a first-round pick to the Cavaliers for Iman Shumpert at the trade deadline this past February, and three of them had max-level cap flexibility this summer, reports Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. That made Cleveland’s front office “incredibly nervous” as it sought to re-sign the swingman in restricted free agency, despite its ability to match competing offers for him. The Kings were one of the teams that thought about an offer before Shumpert, who’d made it a priority to remain with the Cavs, did just that and signed a new deal.

“We were thinking about it,” Kings Vice President of Basketball Operations Vlade Divac told Haynes, “but we had some other options that came up better for us.”

Haynes wonders just what those better options could have been, but the upshot is that Shumpert is staying put. Here’s more from around the Central Division:

The Cavaliers certainly aren’t trading LeBron James, but if they did, they’d have to pay a 15% trade kicker as part of his new contract, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). The bonus would only take effect if he were to opt in for next season.
The precise value of Mo Williams‘ two-year deal with the Cavs is $4,294,500, with $2.1MM coming this season and the rest set aside for the player option year in 2016/17, as Pincus shows on Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
The Bucks had been trying to trade Zaza Pachulia in the days after they struck a deal with Greg Monroe, sources told Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Milwaukee swapped Pachulia to the Mavs last week.
Monroe told Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com that if the Pistons had put on the same sort of hard push that the Clippers made to convince DeAndre Jordan to renege on his deal with the Mavs, he might have stuck with Detroit. “I can’t lie, it probably would have made me think, maybe affected my decision a bit,” said Monroe, whose deal with the Bucks is official, so there’s no going back now. “I mean, I was there for five years, my whole NBA career to this point. I knew the people in the organization, I loved my teammates, so I mean, I can’t lie. I’m not saying if that had happened, I would have changed my mind, but I know that would have affected me, and I probably would have had to ponder a little bit more.”

Cavaliers Rumors: Love, Thompson, Smith, Haywood

July 11th, 2015 at 5:25pm CST by Arthur Hill

A pool-side meeting with LeBron James and a 12:01 a.m. phone call on July 1st helped convince Kevin Love to stay in Cleveland, according to Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer. “We talked everything out,” Love said of the session with James. “A lot of stuff was very honest. We came to a very good place and agreed on a lot of things.” Love added that the early phone call from the organization let him know he was a priority. He agreed to a new five-year, $113MM deal with Cleveland.

There’s more news regarding the Cavs:

The newly signed James reminded the Cavaliers that they still have offseason work left to do, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. While filming a movie Friday, James talked about moves the team has made this summer and some that are still left to finish. “We still got to re-sign Tristan Thompson,” he said. “Hopefully we can bring back J.R. Smith as well and see if there’s some other free agents out there that’d love to come here and play if we’re able to do that.”
Thompson and the Cavs were reportedly close to reaching a five-year, $80MM deal, but talks stalled when he asked for the $85MM that the Warriors’ Draymond Green received, according to Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. He also notes that Smith, who turned down a $6.4MM option for next season, has found few suitors in free agency. Cleveland is reluctant to give him a large raise or a long-term deal, two things Smith is seeking.
Turning Brendan Haywood‘s non-guaranteed $10.5MM contract into a trade exception might be the best option for the Cavs, writes Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal. Today’s release of Deron Williams by the Nets eases Brooklyn’s financial strain and removes another potential suitor for Haywood, Lloyd writes. One possible alternative is to send Haywood to the Clippers for Jamal Crawford, but L.A. officials have denied they are dealing Crawford, and Cleveland won’t need him if Smith re-signs. Haywood is expected to be dealt before his contract becomes fully guaranteed August 1st.

LeBron James Re-Signs With Cavs

July 10th, 2015 at 1:26pm CST by Chuck Myron

1Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

1:26pm: The deal is official, the team announced.

“LeBron’s re-signing today is a reflection and continuation of his strong, personal commitment to help deliver championships to Northeast Ohio and Cavs fans everywhere,” GM David Griffin said in the team’s statement. “We share this deep level of commitment with him. His impact upon this team, his community and the game are impossible to overstate and we look forward to continuing on our mission together.”

FRIDAY, 12:10pm: James signed this morning, a source tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The team has yet to make a formal announcement.

THURSDAY, 12:01pm: Agent Rich Paul notified the Cavaliers that client LeBron James will sign with them on the first day he can in free agency, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. That would indicate that James will sign today. It’s no great surprise, unlike last year, as James has been likely to stay with Cleveland, though the timing of the move, which comes before an agreement between the Cavs and fellow Paul client Tristan Thompson, is somewhat unexpected. It’s a two-year deal with a player option, Broussard adds in a second tweet, with salary figures that indicate it’ll be a max contract. That’s the very sort of arrangement that Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group wrote months ago that James was likely to sign.

James, 30, turned in another stellar season in 2014/15, averaging 25.3 PPG, 7.4 APG, 6.0 RPG, and a 25.9 PER. This past campaign might not have been James’ career-best, but he was nothing short of dominant overall. After cruising to his eleventh consecutive All-Star selection, James put on a heroic effort in the postseason. Even after losing Kevin Love to a shoulder injury in their first round battle with the Celtics and Kyrie Irving to a knee injury in the Finals, LeBron kept his Cavs afloat into a hard-fought championship series against the Warriors.

LeBron and his squad experienced some road bumps in 2014/15, including an up-and-down start to the year and apparent friction between first-year coach David Blatt and core players. Ultimately, however, LeBron will continue to push to see things through in Cleveland as he promised to do this time last year. Of course, it also helps that James appears to have far more control over personnel moves now than he did in Miami.

There was never much question as to whether LeBron would re-sign with Cleveland, but the Cavs are surely breathing a sigh of relief now that they have word of his return.

Latest On Cavs, Tristan Thompson

July 8th, 2015 at 9:10am CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 8TH, 9:10am: The sides made a bit of progress Tuesday, sources told Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio, who includes the tidbit at the end of a broader story on Amico Hoops.

JULY 6TH, 1:02pm: Talks between the sides continue, but the dialogue isn’t producing much of substance at this point, Haynes hears. Other teams are keeping a keen watch on the Thompson dialogue, given that LeBron James reportedly won’t talk to the Cavs about re-signing until Thompson’s deal is done, as Haynes details.

1:10pm: The gap isn’t vast, and there’s no animosity between the sides, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group hears (Twitter link).

JULY 2ND, 12:05pm: A gap remains between the sides in spite of the progress they made Wednesday, Windhorst tweets.

JULY 1ST, 2:09pm: The Cavaliers and Tristan Thompson are close to an agreement on a deal that would pay him north of $80MM, report Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). It appears that would be about the maximum that he could receive in a five-year arrangement. LeBron James made it clear this spring that he wanted his fellow Rich Paul client back with the Cavs, months after Thompson and Cleveland didn’t come to terms on an extension this past fall.

A deal for Thompson would be yet another significant commitment for Cleveland, which will retain Kevin Love, reportedly for the max, and almost certainly will do the same with LeBron. The team has already had internal discussions about a payroll of $100-110MM next season with a tax payment of some $75MM, as Windhorst previously reported.

Thompson turned down a four-year, $52MM extension offer this past fall, betting that he could do better this summer, even though the Cavs had brought in Kevin Love at his position. Thompson came off the bench most of the time, but he excelled as a starter in the playoffs when Love was injured. Still, a max deal is quite a high price to pay for the 24-year-old who averaged only 8.5 points per game this past season, particularly with Love coming back, too.

Cavs Rumors: Smith, Crawford, Love

July 6th, 2015 at 3:23pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavaliers struck deals on the first day of free agency with Kevin Love and Iman Shumpert, and they were reportedly close to doing the same with Tristan Thompson the same day, but their pace has slowed considerably since then. The Thompson talks have reportedly bogged down, with LeBron James apparently unwilling to talk about a deal for himself until Thompson, a fellow Rich Paul client, is taken care of. The Joe Johnson trade discussions with the Nets appear to be in limbo, too. Still, there are plenty of rumors, as we’ll pass along:

The Cavs don’t see the wisdom in giving J.R. Smith the long-term deal he’s seeking, and Smith “pretty much signed his exit papers” from Cleveland when he opted out, writes Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer. That’s in spite of Smith’s apparent inclination to remain in Cleveland and LeBron’s desire to have the former Sixth Man of the Year back. Still, James is a fan of Johnson, and Pluto suggests the Nets swingman as a possible replacement for Smith on the wing. Those talks with the Nets about Johnson appear to be stagnant, however.
Pluto hears rumors linking the Cavs to Jamal Crawford, and the Plain Dealer scribe suggests Crawford as another possible trade target with the Brendan Haywood contract. The Clippers were reportedly exploring trades for Crawford shortly before the draft.
The Cavs and Love had a verbal agreement in place before July 1st, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group hears. That would technically violate collective bargaining agreement rules, since the sides weren’t allowed to talk contract until this month, but the practice of engaging in clandestine early negotiations wouldn’t exactly be unprecedented, Haynes notes.

Central Notes: James, Jackson, Bucks

July 4th, 2015 at 8:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

LeBron James won’t begin contract talks with the Cavaliers until negotiations with Tristan Thompson are completed, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Cleveland is trying to reach a new deal with the 24-year-old, but talks are currently stalled. Thompson and the Cavaliers discussed a deal this week worth more than $80MM.

There’s more from the Central Division:

Free agent guard Reggie Jackson was part of the crowd for the Pistons‘ summer league opener today in Orlando, writes Terry Foster of The Detroit News. Coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said there is no indication Jackson is negotiating with other teams and the team hopes to meet with him soon to work out a new contract. He took Jackson’s presence today as a positive step. “It is a sign he wants to be here,” Van Gundy said.
After they agreed to terms with Greg Monroe earlier this week, Zach Lowe of Grantland believes the Bucks will look to trade away one of their frontcourt players.
The agreement between Khris Middleton and the Bucks came together so fast that other teams didn’t even get a real chance to speak with the 23-year-old, Lowe writes in a separate piece.

Chris Crouse contributed to this post

Cavs, Wizards Pursue Mike Dunleavy

June 30th, 2015 at 11:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

11:39pm: The Cavs are indeed in pursuit, as well as the Wizards, but the Bulls are still the favorites, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter).

9:26am: LeBron James would like the Cavs to sign Mike Dunleavy, but the small forward is highly likely to re-sign with the Bulls, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). James, though he’s opting out of his deal, has been very much engaged with Cavs management about the roster and is expected to re-sign. Dunleavy is also reportedly drawing interest from the Clippers.

Chicago apparently wants Dunleavy back, though there’s a limit to how much the Bulls would pay the client of outgoing Wasserman agent Arn Tellem. The Bulls are also highly likely to retain Jimmy Butler, whom they’ve made a maximum qualifying offer. Should Butler end up signing for the max, it’s likely the Bulls will have already exceeded the projected $81.6MM tax line even without a contract for Dunleavy.

The Cavs will probably end up paying an even heavier tax burden, and they’ll almost certainly be limited to offering Dunleavy the $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level exception. The Bulls have Early Bird rights to Dunleavy, so they’ll likely be able to pay him as much as about $6MM next season if they want to.