Marco Belinelli Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Turner, Nuggets, Asik

October 17th, 2013 at 5:36pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Richard Hamilton was one name linked to the Timberwolves as they consider adding a wing, but he’s far from the team’s only potential target. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets that Evan Turner has fans among the Wolves front office, and that the 76ers would be open to moving him. In a piece for the Star Tribune, Jerry Zgoda also mentions Turner and identifies a few other possible options.

With that aside, let’s take a look at what else is going on around the Western Conference:

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports takes a look at the Nuggets’ offseason, starting with Josh Kroenke’s agonizing decision to fire Coach of the Year George Karl.
ESPN’s David Thorpe examines Omer Asik‘s trade value and explores a few potential trades involving the Rockets’ center (Insiders only).
Earlier this week, we noted that there has been mutual interest between the Jazz and free agent guard Jamaal Tinsley, although nothing appeared to be imminent. Steve Luhm of The Salt Lake Tribune was able to relay some of head coach Tyrone Corbin‘s comments today regarding the 35-year-old point guard: “He’s a guy that’s on the list…We haven’t decided what we’re going to do yet. He’s a guy we’re comfortable with. I really respect what he brings to the team. We’ll look and see if it’s the right fit going forward.”
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (via Twitter) doesn’t expect the Spurs to make any roster cuts until after the team’s road trip ends in Miami on Saturday. McDonald also points out that although San Antonio only has to make one more roster cut, they could possibly opt for two.
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich drew a parallel between Manu Ginobili and new addition Marco Belinelli: “I consider him to have the same mindset as Manu, which means I’m going to have to be patient as I’ve learned with Manu. Manu taught me to shut up and just watch him play a little more, which is a good thing. And Marco is going to be the same way. They both have the same passion for the game. They have no fear, which most of the time is good, but sometimes it can bite you. But I would rather have that than somebody who is timid” (NBA.com via the Associated Press).

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Texas Notes: Parsons, Alexander, Mavericks

October 3rd, 2013 at 9:49pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Without a doubt, Chandler Parsons proved to be one of the most intriguing young talents in the NBA last season, averaging 15.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 3.5 APG while shooting .486/.385/.729 across the board. Not to mention that the 6'9 forward is set to earn around $925K this year and is entering the third season of a four-year contract in Houston. Any team with hopes of landing the precocious neophyte via free agency may not have that chance, as Rockets owner Leslie Alexander was clear about his long-term commitment to Parsons:

"He'll be here. We'll sign Chandler. We always do. Nobody's ever left. He's an integral part of the team. We don't want to let a terrific player go" (Mark Berman of FOX 26)

Here's more news and notes to pass along out of the Lone Star State tonight, including more from Berman:

The Rockets' interest in keeping Parsons around for a long time is clearly mutual, based on Parsons' reaction to Alexander's comments: "I know at the end of the day it's a business, but when you have someone's word like that and you're happy here and you got a good thing going, I don't see this changing. I want to be here. So it's a good match."
With a history that includes bringing in Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, and Tracy McGrady to Houston, Alexander says that Dwight Howard has been "most important acquisition."
Tim Cowlishaw of SportsDayDFW thinks it'll be a miracle if the Mavericks approach 50 wins this season, instead offering 44-45 wins as a more realistic number.
Though the Mavs have 15 players signed to guaranteed contracts, head coach Rick Carlisle took notice of training camp invitee Renaldo Balkman: "He avoids the catastrophic mistakes some younger guys tend to struggle with" (Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram via Twitter).
In this video from Spurs.com, Manu Ginobili speaks to the media about holding training camp at the Air Force Academy, which just so happens to be head coach Gregg Popovich's alma mater.
In another clip from the Spurs' team website, Marco Belinelli briefly comments about camp and says that his experiences with coach Tom Thibodeau in Chicago has helped him adapt to coach Popovich's expectations thus far.

Western Notes: Kobe, Kelly, Parker

September 19th, 2013 at 6:47pm CST by Ryan Raroque

As Lakers' star Kobe Bryant continues his path toward recovery, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News hears from team athletic trainer Gary Vitti that the 35-year-old guard is a few weeks away from advancing to full-weight bearing running and hasn't suffered any setbacks. With that being said, Vitti added that there still isn't a projected return date. Here's more out of the Western Conference tonight, including another injury update from Medina:

As for most recent second-round pick Ryan Kelly (whom Vitti says is "asymptomatic"), the trainers have still decided to take a conservative approach with his rehab and aren't sure when he'll be returning to action either.
Tony Parker tells Mark Woods of ESPN that general manager R.C. Buford wants him to play less minutes at Eurobasket, but added that he has a great relationship with the Spurs and appreciates them letting him play for the French national team.
Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation relays a snippet of Marco Belinelli's interview with HoopsHype, noting that the 27-year-old guard chose San Antonio over several other teams because of the opportunity to play for Gregg Popovich and a chance to win a championship.
Rockets guard Jeremy Lin tells Mark Berman of Fox 26 about how great it was to work out with Hakeem Olajuwon and says that "anybody with (Dwight Howard) is a deadly combination" in response to the 50-year-old's recent comments about Lin and Howard being a potent duo next season (All Twitter links).

Spurs Sign Marco Belinelli To Two-Year Deal

July 11th, 2013 at 2:05pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 11TH: The Spurs have officially signed Belinelli, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 4TH: The Spurs have reached an agreement on a two-year deal with Marco Belinelli, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (via Twitter). Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first reported that the two sides were engaged in serious discussions.

Belinelli, an Excel Sports client, is coming off a one-year deal with the Bulls, having averaged 9.6 PPG while shooting 35.7% on three-pointers in 2012/13. The 27-year-old signed for the bi-annual exception last summer, and will receive a slight raise this year. According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the two-year deal will pay Belinelli about $6MM.

Having reached agreements to bring back Tiago Splitter and Manu Ginobili, the Spurs almost certainly won't have any cap space available during the offseason, though the club should have the full $5.15MM mid-level exception at its disposal. Presumably, part of that MLE will be allocated to Belinelli, but there still should be $2MM+ left to use another player. Alternately, Belinelli could be signed using cap room if the club decides to amnesty Matt Bonner and let Gary Neal walk, but I think that scenario is probably less likely.

Still, it's unclear where the agreement with Belinelli will leave Neal. The Spurs hold the free agent guard's Bird rights, so they have the flexibility to bring him back if they so choose, but Belinelli may be in line to receive many of the minutes that otherwise would have gone to Neal.

Cavs Notes: Clark, FA Targets, Korver, Dunleavy

July 7th, 2013 at 2:19pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavaliers made a couple of moves this week, agreeing to terms with Earl Clark and Jarrett Jack, as our Free Agent Tracker Shows. They still figure to have close to $15MM in cap space remaining, so they're not done yet. Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer, amid his look across the spectrum of Cleveland sports, passes along news on the Cavs' summer so far and what might be next, as we detail here:

Pluto has the value of Clark's deal at $8.5MM, slightly smaller than the $9MM total that Sean Deveney of The Sporting News originally reported.
The Cavs are in the hunt for a swingman who can shoot and a true center, according to Pluto. They were considering Kyle Korver before he agreed to re-sign with the Hawks, Pluto adds.
Pluto also confirms Marc Stein's ESPN report that Marco Belinelli passed up more money from the Cavs to go to the Spurs, and says that Mike Dunleavy did the same when he agreed to head to the Bulls.
Fellow Plain Dealer scribe Mary Schmitt Boyer answers reader questions in her mailbag column, and she touches on the notion of LeBron James returning to the Cavs.

Stein’s Latest: Nets, Spurs, Cavs, Belinelli, Neal

July 4th, 2013 at 3:35pm CST by Luke Adams

In between arguments about the relative merits of In-N-Out Burger, ESPN.com's Marc Stein has found time this afternoon to pass along several nuggets related to free agency. Here are the highlights from the ESPN.com scribe's Twitter account:

The Nets are still targeting point guards, with Shaun Livingston and John Lucas III among the players on the team's radar, says Stein (via Twitter). The club lost C.J. Watson to the Pacers in free agency.
Prior to agreeing to sign with the Spurs, Marco Belinelli had a more lucrative offer on the table from the Cavaliers, says Stein, adding that Belinelli couldn't resist the lure of the Spurs' "all-world operation" (Twitter link).
There are "strong indications" that restricted free agent Gary Neal won't be returning to the Spurs, which is why the team moved quickly to bring Belinelli aboard, tweets Stein. According to Stein (via Twitter), Neal is receiving interest at a price point that San Antonio is reluctant to match.

Spurs In Serious Talks With Marco Belinelli

July 3rd, 2013 at 2:27pm CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs are engaged in "serious talks" with unrestricted free agent Marco Belinelli, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).

Belinelli is coming off a one-year deal with the Bulls, having averaged 9.6 PPG while shooting 35.7% on three-pointers in 2012/13. The 27-year-old signed for the bi-annual exception last summer, and figures to be in the market for a mid-level-type deal this time around.

Having reached agreements to bring back Tiago Splitter and Manu Ginobili, the Spurs almost certainly won't have any cap space available during the offseason, but the club should have its full $5.15MM mid-level exception. San Antonio is likely discussing a deal for Belinelli that would use that MLE, though perhaps not the entire thing — the Spurs could break up that exception and use the $5.15MM to sign multiple players, if they so choose.

According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), if the Spurs aren't able to reach an agerement with Belinelli, the club still plans to re-sign its own free agent guard, Gary Neal.

This post was first published on July 4th at 2:27pm CST.

Nets No Longer Pursuing Marco Belinelli?

July 3rd, 2013 at 2:00pm CST by Zachary Links

WEDNESDAY, 2:00pm: Davide Chinellato of Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport (Twitter link) hears from a source that the Nets are no longer pursuing Belinelli, who is now talking to the Pacers.

MONDAY, 4:28pm: The Nets have reached out to free agent guard Marco Belinelli and discussed a multi-year deal for the taxpayer mid-level exception of $3.2MM, sources tell Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld. Sources say that the Nets are debating whether to go with a guard like Belinelli or another big man to bolster the the frontcourt.

While it has been reported that the Nets and Kyle Korver have more-or-less agreed to a deal for the taxpayer MLE, Pincus reports that he could fall outside of the Nets' price range. The sharpshooter has lots of suitors this offseason and could land a deal with a higher average annual value. It's possible that Korver is high enough on Brooklyn to give them a discount and the 32-year-old has done quite well for himself over the years, earning more than $38MM over the course of his career according to Basketball Reference.

The Nets would also like to re-sign Andray Blatche, but the most they can offer is ~$1.4MM without using a portion of their MLE. If he does return at that figure, that would enable Brooklyn to sign Belinelli.

Belinelli spent last season with Chicago and averaged 13.4 PPG, but his 35.7% percentage from downtown was the lowest of his career. The Italian is represented by Excel Sports Management, according to the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.

Bucks, Spurs Interested In Kyle Korver; Nets Out

July 3rd, 2013 at 9:39am CST by Luke Adams

9:39am: The Spurs are another team to keep an eye on in the Korver sweepstakes, tweets Stein. San Antonio should have at least the full mid-level exception available.

9:01am: Several teams are pitching offers to Korver that the Nets are unable to match, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who hears that the Bucks proposed a three-year, $20MM deal (Twitter links).

7:53am: Despite an earlier report indicating that a Kyle Korver signing was essentially "in the bag" for the Nets, it doesn't appear he'll be heading to Brooklyn after all. ESPN.com's Chris Broussard (Twitter links) reports that the Nets, without enough money to offer Korver, are out of the running for the free agent sharpshooter.

It comes as no surprise that the Nets, who only have the $3.18MM mini mid-level exception available to offer outside free agents, wouldn't be able to compete with rival offers for Korver. When I examined the 32-year-old's free agent stock earlier in the year, I predicted that he'd at least match the three-year, $15MM contract that expired this summer. It appeared for a time that Korver would be willing to accept a discount to join the Nets, but it seems that's no longer the case.

Brooklyn has also been linked to Marco Belinelli, who provides a similar skillset to Korver and would be more likely to sign for the mini mid-level. Now that the Nets seem to be out of the running for Korver, perhaps the club will pursue Belinelli or another outside shooter more aggressively.

Odds & Ends: Kings, Lee, Martin, Cavs, Bulls

July 1st, 2013 at 2:42pm CST by Luke Adams

Tyreke Evans is being courted by the Pelicans and Andre Iguodala is reportedly drawing interest from several teams, but the Kings are expected to make a pitch to both players today. Bryan May of News10 in Sacramento reports (via Twitter) that Sacramento brass is scheduled to meet with Evans and Iguodala in Los Angeles today.

Here are a few more Monday odds and ends from around the NBA:

Evans is also expected to meet with the Pistons today, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.
Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News follows up on Adrian Wojnarowski's report of the Warriors gauging trade interest in David Lee by exploring the possibility of a deal and noting that the Warriors were "quickly rebuffed" when they offered Lee to the Lakers last year in a proposal for Pau Gasol.
Expect the Grizzlies to become more interested in Kevin Martin if they're unable to bring back Tony Allen, tweets TNT's David Aldridge.
The Cavaliers came close to acquiring a second top-10 pick in last week's draft, with an eye on adding Alex Len or Ben McLemore, says Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio.
Thunder fans shouldn't worry that his new partnership with Jay-Z and Roc Nation Sports means he'll be leaving Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant tells Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman.
2011 second-round pick Bojan Bogdanovic continues to have interest in coming stateside to play for the Nets, but if Brooklyn uses its mini mid-level exception on a player like Kyle Korver, it's unlikely that Bogdanovic comes over this season, as Sean Deveney of the Sporting News writes.
Bulls GM Gar Forman has reached out to free agents Nate Robinson, Marco Belinelli, and Nazr Mohammed, but sounds much more confident about retaining Mohammed than the other two. Doug Padilla of ESPNChicago.com has the details.