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Southwest Notes: Ginobili, Rockets, Noel

July 20th, 2017 at 9:20pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Manu Ginobili said the decision to return to the Spurs for his 16th season was not an easy one to make, Jeff McDonald of Spurs Nation relays.

“[Coach Gregg Popovich] told me that he wanted me to continue and he needed me on the team,” Ginobili said.“If he did not want me, it would have been easier for me.”

The future Hall of Famer added that he didn’t want to walk away while he could still play at a high level.

“I accepted because it is a great honor to be with such a franchise, at 40 years old, feeling important, with people who tell me that they love me and that I am still important to the team,” Ginobili wrote. “Everything I had in mind if I retired, I can postpone for another time. On the other hand, if I retired and took a year (off), I would not be able to compete again at 41.”

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

Multiple sources tell Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link) that Daryl Morey and the Rockets‘ management team is not attempting to put together a group to buy the franchise. Leslie Alexander announced earlier this week that he is selling the team after 24 years of ownership.
Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News speculates that Nerlens Noel could end up signing a one-year deal with the Mavericks. Noel has yet to reach an agreement with the franchise and the scribe believes the center is searching for leverage, but Dallas’ ability to match any offer limits his negotiation power.
Brandon Paul, who signed a two-year deal with the Spurs this summer, is thrilled for the chance to play for the franchise, as he tells Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Paul played in Russia, Spain, and Turkey in addition to the G-League before landing his first NBA contract.

Spurs Sign Joffrey Lauvergne

July 18th, 2017 at 1:05pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 18, 1:05pm: The Spurs have officially signed Lauvergne, the team confirmed today in a press release.

JULY 10, 2:00pm: The Spurs have reached a two-year contract agreement with free agent big man Joffrey Lauvergne, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical. The news comes on the heels of the Bulls withdrawing Lauvergne’s qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent, which will allow him to sign outright with San Antonio.

Lauvergne, a second-round pick in 2013, made his NBA debut for the Nuggets in 2014 and spent two years with the franchise before being sent to the Thunder in a trade last August. He was flipped again at this year’s trade deadline, heading to Chicago as part of a trade package in a deal that saw Oklahoma City land Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott.

Lauvergne, a 6’11” forward/center, looked like a player on the rise in 2015/16, averaging 7.9 PPG and 4.9 RPG with a .513 FG% in 59 games (17.6 MPG) for the Nuggets. However, he took a step backward last season. For the year, he recorded just 5.4 PPG and 3.6 RPG with a .440 FG% in 70 contests.

Despite his very modest production for the Bulls down the stretch, Lauvergne initially received a qualifying offer worth about $2.14MM from the team, which made him a restricted free agent. However, Chicago apparently decided that the big man wasn’t in the team’s long-term plans, allowing him to reach the open market with no restrictions over the weekend.

While details of the Spurs’ agreement with Lauvergne aren’t yet known, the club already used its full mid-level exception on Rudy Gay, leaving the $3.29MM bi-annual exception and the minimum salary exception for other free agents. San Antonio had been in need of some frontcourt depth, with Dewayne Dedmon, David Lee, and Pau Gasol all on the free agent market, though Gasol is expected to re-sign.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NBA Teams With Hard Caps For 2017/18

July 18th, 2017 at 12:12pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA salary cap is somewhat malleable, with various exceptions allowing every team to surpass the $99.093MM threshold when that room is used up. In some cases, teams blow past not only the cap limit, but the luxury-tax limit as well, with clubs like the Cavaliers, Warriors, and Trail Blazers going well beyond that tax line this year.

The NBA doesn’t have a “hard cap” by default, which allows those clubs to build significant payrolls without violating CBA rules. However, there are certain scenarios in which teams can be hard-capped. When a club uses the bi-annual exception, acquires a player via sign-and-trade, or uses more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception, that club will face a hard cap for the remainder of the league year.

When a team becomes hard-capped, it cannot exceed the tax apron at any point during the rest of the league year. Under the new CBA, the tax apron is set at the point $6MM above the luxury tax line. For the 2017/18 league year, the tax line is at $119.266MM, so the apron – and the hard cap – is at $125.266MM.

So far this year, six teams have imposed a hard cap on themselves by using the bi-annual exception, using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, or acquiring a player via sign-and-trade. Listed below are those six teams, along with their current salary situation. Team salaries are estimations, since not all contracts have been finalized, and we don’t know the exact figures on all those salaries.

Los Angeles Clippers

How they created a hard cap: Acquiring Danilo Gallinari via sign-and-trade. Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Milos Teodosic and Jawun Evans.
Approximate team salary: $120MM
Breakdown: The Clippers still have some non-guaranteed salary on their books, but even if they were to cut those contracts, they’d need to fill out their 15-man roster somehow, so they appear likely to stay over the tax line, despite losing Chris Paul. They’ll fill out their roster with minimum salary players and will have somewhat limited flexibility in trades unless they dump some salary at some point.

Houston Rockets

How they created a hard cap: Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign P.J. Tucker and Zhou Qi. Using bi-annual exception to sign Tarik Black.
Approximate team salary: $119MM
Breakdown: The Rockets acquired Chris Paul before the new league year began in order to hang onto their mid-level and bi-annual exceptions, and made full use of them. Like the Clippers, the Rockets have some non-guaranteed salary that could be removed from their cap to sneak under the tax line, but they don’t appear concerned about that for now. It will be interesting to see if their hard cap limits their flexibility at all when it comes to adding a highly-paid player like Carmelo Anthony.

Toronto Raptors

How they created a hard cap: Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign C.J. Miles.
Approximate team salary: $118MM
Breakdown: Dumping the salaries of DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph allowed the Raptors to use their full mid-level exception, which gave them the opportunity to land a talented swingman like Miles. Toronto was originally planning to acquire Miles via a sign-and-trade, but either approach would have hard-capped the club.

Detroit Pistons

How they created a hard cap: Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Langston Galloway and Eric Moreland. Using bi-annual exception to sign Anthony Tolliver.
Approximate team salary: $116MM
Breakdown: Once the Pistons added Galloway and Avery Bradley, it became clear that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope wouldn’t return. Even without KCP on their books, the Pistons are inching close to tax territory, though they should be able to avoid crossing that threshold.

Memphis Grizzlies

How they created a hard cap: Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Ben McLemore and Rade Zagorac. Using bi-annual exception to sign Tyreke Evans.
Approximate team salary: $104MM
Breakdown: The Grizzlies are well below the tax line – and the hard cap – for now, but JaMychal Green‘s new contract looms large. At this point, it seems unlikely that Green will sign a massive offer sheet that forces Memphis into tax territory to match it. But even if Green gets $10-12MM per year, the Grizzlies will get a whole lot closer to the tax threshold, which will limit their ability to add more salary. If they let Green walk, that won’t be a problem, but I’d be surprised if that happens.

San Antonio Spurs

How they created a hard cap: Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Rudy Gay.
Approximate team salary: $97MM
Breakdown: The hard cap shouldn’t have a major impact on the Spurs, who are still nearly $30MM away from reaching it. However, new contracts for Manu Ginobili and Pau Gasol could take San Antonio a whole lot closer to that tax threshold, depending on how much the club ends up paying its returning veterans.

Update (10-8-2017):

New Orleans Pelicans

How they created a hard cap: Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Rajon Rondo, Quincy Miller, and Frank Jackson.
Approximate team salary: $118MM
Breakdown: The Pelicans are closer to the hard cap than their team salary would suggest, since several unlikely incentives – which don’t currently count against the cap or tax – count for hard cap purposes. They’ll have to be careful this season about making further signings or taking back more money than they send out in a trade

Salary information from Basketball Insiders, HeatHoops, and ESPN used in this post. Team salary information not up to date.

Spurs, Manu Ginobili Finalizing Agreement

July 18th, 2017 at 10:57am CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs are finalizing the details on a new agreement with longtime guard Manu Ginobili, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Ginobili had considered the possibility of retirement, but appears poised to return for at least one more season. It will be his 16th in the NBA.

Ginobili, who will turn 40 later this month, has been a Spur since the 2002/03 season, and continued to play a key role for the team last year. Although he set new career lows in several categories, including PPG (7.5), FG% (.390), and MPG (18.7), the Argentinian made 39.2% of his three-point attempts, and the Spurs had slightly better offensive and defensive numbers when he was on the court.

The Spurs hold Ginobili’s Bird rights, so the team won’t be limited in its ability to offer him a fair salary. While the former second-round pick won’t necessarily be in line for a big payday at this stage in his career based on his 2016/17 production, San Antonio has less than $100MM in team salary on its books for 2017/18, and has already used its full mid-level exception.

As such, the Spurs may be willing to overpay Ginobili a little to reward him for his performance with the franchise over the years, since doing so wouldn’t really limit the team’s spending flexibility. However, the club will also have to account for a new contract for Pau Gasol, who is expected to re-sign at some point.

Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks) and Tony Parker (Spurs) are the only players who have been on the same team’s NBA roster longer than Ginobili. Nowitzki has been a Maverick since 1998, while Parker joined the Spurs in 2001. Ginobili was technically drafted in 1999, but didn’t sign with the Spurs until 2002.

Ginobili is currently the second-oldest player in the NBA behind Vince Carter, who turned 40 earlier this year.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Rudy Gay: Winning Outweighs Bigger Contract

July 17th, 2017 at 5:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Rudy Gay doesn’t have any regrets opting out of his contract with the Kings and taking less money to play for the Spurs, as he discussed with ESPN’s Michael C. Wright during a Q&A session. Gay could have made $14.26MM next season if he had opted in but instead wound up signing a two-year, $17.2MM deal with San Antonio. The Spurs offered the 31-year-old forward their mid-level exception. He’ll make $8.4MM in the first year and has a player option next summer. Gay met with the Clippers during free agency and the Heat, Thunder, Jazz and Warriors were also reportedly interested in him.”Looking at my career, it’s just time to win,” he told Wright. “That’s what it’s mostly about. I’ve been in this league for a little while now, and I haven’t gotten out of my career what I wanted.”

Other interesting tidbits from the Q&A session:

Gay says he’s medically cleared “to do everything” after recovering from a torn Achilles tendon injury that limited him to 30 games last season. He’ll “definitely be ready” to play by training camp.
He’s had multiple conversation with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich regarding his role and is eager to prove he’s more than just a scorer. His ability to switch defensively is another aspect of his game that attracted San Antonio. “I’ve been known to get buckets, and I’ve had that stigma of just being a scorer. But I think there’s a lot more to my game. I think I can show that here in San Antonio.”
Gay has no qualms about playing for the hard-driving Popovich: “You want to play for somebody that you respect on the court and off the court. That’s a guy you’d want to go to battle for, a guy that’s not afraid to say how he feels on the basketball court or off the basketball court.”

Southwest Notes: Anthony, Simmons, Mavericks, Rondo

July 16th, 2017 at 9:07am CST by Arthur Hill

Houston continues to be the preferred destination for Carmelo Anthony, but former Rockets coach and ESPN commentator Jeff Van Gundy doesn’t see the high-scoring forward as a “natural fit” for the team, relays Marc Berman of The New York Post. Van Gundy, who still lives in Houston, believes the Rockets need to focus on defense in any future transactions. “I think they have a lot on their plate integrating [Chris] Paul and [James] Harden,” Van Gundy said. “They’re not going to be better offensively than they were last year. They were the second-best team in the league offensively. I thought they had defined roles everyone knew.”

Efforts to work out a four-team trade that would send Anthony to Houston are currently on hold as new Knicks GM Scott Perry hopes for a face-to-face meeting with his star player before proceeding. New York officials would like Anthony, who can block any deal with a no-trade clause, to expand the list of teams he is willing to join, which reportedly now just includes the Rockets and Cavaliers.

There’s more this morning from the Southwest Division:

The Spurs never made a serious attempt to keep Jonathon Simmons, tweets Casey Keirnan of News 4 San Antonio. Simmons agreed to a three-year, $20MM deal with the Magic on Friday after the Spurs pulled his qualifying offer and made him an unrestricted free agent. Despite reports that San Antonio was trying to retain Simmons, the team never made him an offer apart from the QO, sources tell Keirnan.
The Mavericks are taking an international approach to rebuilding their roster, notes Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. This week’s signing of German star Maxi Kleber could give them as many as seven international players at training camp. Joining roster holdovers Dirk Nowitzki, J.J. Barea, Dwight Powell and Salah Mejri will be Kleber, Nico Brussino and Ding Yanyuhang. However, Brussino’s $1,312,611 salary for next season won’t be guaranteed until Thursday, so he may be somewhere else when camp opens. “You want good players, and it doesn’t matter where you find them,” said president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson. “There are players all over the world. It’s our job to know where they are.”
After reaching an agreement Saturday with Rajon Rondo, the Pelicans plan to use him and fellow point guard Jrue Holiday as their backcourt starters, according to Marc J. Spears of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Rondo’s friendship with former Kings teammate DeMarcus Cousins was a factor in choosing New Orleans, Spears indicates.

Spurs Sign Brandon Paul

July 14th, 2017 at 12:32pm CST by ChrisCrouse

JULY 14, 12:32pm: The Spurs have formally issued a press release making their deal with Paul official.

JULY 13, 2:24pm: The Spurs have reached an agreement with Brandon Paul to add him to the team, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter link). Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com adds that the contract will be guaranteed, though no other details of the deal have trickled out yet.

Paul played abroad last season for Anadolu Efes Istanbul where he shot 41.5% from behind the arc. He played for the Cavaliers’ Summer League team in 2017 and the Sixers’ squad during the summer of 2016.

The combo guard spent four years at the University of Illinois before going undrafted in the 2013 draft. During his senior year in college, he scored 16.6 points per game while shooting 40.1% from the field.

Spurs, Suns Discussed Tyson Chandler Trade

July 13th, 2017 at 2:18pm CST by Luke Adams

Before they renounced Jonathon Simmons‘ rights and made him an unrestricted free agent, the Spurs discussed a sign-and-trade scenario that would have sent Simmons to the Suns in a deal for center Tyson Chandler, writes Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News. It’s not clear if the proposed deal would have been Simmons for Chandler straight up or if other parts would have been involved, but either way, San Antonio backed out of the deal, reluctant to take on Chandler’s contract, per Young.

Spurs Make Jonathon Simmons Unrestricted FA

July 13th, 2017 at 1:00pm CST by Luke Adams

1:00pm: Having spoken to Simmons’ representatives, Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link) says they are no longer in talks with the Spurs. Referring to today’s move as “last call,” Young strongly suggests a reunion isn’t in store for Simmons and San Antonio.

Meanwhile, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter) that Simmons is in talks with “several” other clubs, while Charania confirms the UFA guard is focused on signing elsewhere.

11:27am: The Spurs continue to negotiate with Simmons as an unrestricted free agent, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

If that’s the case, it seems the team may have simply rescinded Simmons’ qualifying offer rather than renouncing his rights entirely. Withdrawing Simmons’ QO would leave the Spurs with his Early Bird rights, while renouncing him would leave only the bi-annual exception or Non-Bird rights for a new deal.

11:04am: In a surprising move, the Spurs have renounced Jonathon Simmons, making him an unrestricted free agent, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). Today is the last day for teams to withdraw qualifying offers for restricted free agents, so San Antonio made the move just before the deadline.

A former undrafted free agent out of Houston, Simmons played a career-high 78 games for the Spurs last season, averaging 6.2 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 1.6 APG in a part-time role for the club. Although he has played just two years in the NBA, Simmons will turn 28 in September.

Despite his age and his modest production last year, however, the 6’6″ swingman has been viewed as one of the more intriguing players on the shooting guard market, given his two-way potential and his ability to play a key role for the West’s second-best team. Simmons also took on a larger role in the postseason, averaging 15.3 PPG and 3.3 APG in the Warriors’ four-game sweep of the Spurs.

The Kings, Clippers, Knicks, and Timberwolves are among the teams that have expressed interest in Simmons since free agency got underway, though most of those clubs no longer have the flexibility to make a competitive offer. Sacramento still has some room left, and under-the-cap clubs like the Nets and Sixers could be worth watching as well.

The Spurs’ decision to renounce Simmons is somewhat unexpected, considering the team was said to be preparing an offer in the range of $9MM annually for him at the start of free agency. However, San Antonio may have viewed Simmons as a non-essential piece after using the mid-level exception to bring Rudy Gay aboard.

Jaron Blossomgame To Join Austin Spurs

July 7th, 2017 at 1:30pm CST by Luke Adams

1:30pm: Blossomgame will be joining the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s G League affiliate, but not on a two-way contract, according to Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com. Wright indicates that Blossomgame will get a standard G League contract, as the Spurs retain his NBA rights. That will give the club the flexibility to add two other players on two-way contracts.

10:39am: Reports of Blossomgame signing a two-way contract are “not accurate,” per Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link).

It’s not clear whether the Spurs intend to sign Blossomgame to an NBA contract or if no decision has been made yet. Since he was a draft pick, San Antonio holds Blossomgame’s NBA rights, so the two sides figure to work something out at some point.

8:27am: The Spurs will sign 2017 second-round pick Jaron Blossomgame to a two-way contract, according to Chris Reichert of 2 Ways & 10 Days (via Twitter). The deal is not yet official.

Blossomgame, a 6’7″ forward, was ranked as the 50th-best prospect in this year’s draft class by DraftExpress. In his senior season at Clemson, Blossomgame averaged 17.6 PPG and 6.3 RPG in 33 games. The Spurs made him the 59th overall pick in the draft last month.

As we’ve detailed, two-way contracts are a new addition to the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement that allow teams to control two extra players who primarily play for the club’s G League affiliate. They can be called up to the NBA roster, but only for up to 45 days per season.

Blossomgame is the third late-second-round pick to agree to a two-way contract, along with the Pacers’ Edmond Sumner (No. 52) and the Suns’ Alec Peters (No. 54). I expect most second-round selections will avoid having to sign two-way deals, but I wouldn’t be surprised if teams picking late in the draft spoke to players and agents before draft day to see if they’d be amenable to doing a two-way deal.