San Antonio Spurs Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southwest Rumors: Matthews, Bonner, Rockets

August 3rd, 2015 at 7:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks have tempered their expectations of Wesley Matthews for the upcoming season because they don’t want to jeopardize his future, according to Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said that the club won’t take any shortcuts as Matthews recovers from a torn Achilles tendon, Sneed continues. “I think the most important thing is that he makes a full recovery, because we’re signing him to a four-year deal,” Carlisle said. “The first year is more about making sure that he’s right and getting him out there on the right terms, and from there we want him to make a full recovery and continue to get better.” Matthews said in the same story that the Mavs will get their money’s worth, even though they have been criticized for giving him a $70MM deal. “It’s just going to make me hungrier to prove that I’m worth the money,” he said. “I’m not concerned with that. I just know that I can play this game, and I know that I can play it at a high level.”

In other news around the Southwest Division:

Maurice Ndour will see $1 more the minimum on his three-year contract with the Mavericks, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). It’s fully guaranteed for this season, but the guarantees beyond that are still unknown, Pincus indicates. Brandon Ashley, Jarrid Famous and Jamil Wilson are also receiving the minimum from the Mavs this year, Pincus shows on the same page.
Matt Bonner received a $795,000 guarantee from the Spurs on his $1.5MM deal, Pincus reports in a separate tweet. Bonner gets the full amount if he’s still on the roster on January 10th.
Rockets executive vice president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas has been named International Player Personnel Scout for USA Basketball, the team announced Monday. Entering his fourth season with the Rockets in that capacity, Rosas was previously the Mavericks’ GM.

Pacific Notes: Lieberman, Moreland, Durant

July 30th, 2015 at 10:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

10:28pm: The Kings and Lieberman have reached an agreement, Lieberman tells Voisin (Twitter link).

7:29pm: The NBA will boast multiple female assistant coaches for the first time this season, as the Kings are expected to hire Hall of Famer and women’s basketball pioneer Nancy Lieberman to head coach George Karl‘s staff, reports Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. Kings VP of franchise and basketball ops Vlade Divac told Voisin today that he’ll make Lieberman an offer, and she said to Voisin that she’ll accept it.

“George and I talked about bringing her back after she helped us at summer league,” Divac said. “She was terrific. She brings a different dimension. I think [it’s] a nice opportunity for her.”

She’ll join Spurs assistant Becky Hammon, the head coach of the Las Vegas Summer League champs, who became just the second female NBA assistant coach ever last summer, and the first to hold such a position full-time. Lieberman has previously served as head coach of the Mavs D-League affiliate. Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:

The Kings decided one-year veteran Eric Moreland‘s playing style was too similar to that of No. 6 pick Willie Cauley-Stein, helping prompt Sacramento to waive Moreland on Thursday rather than guarantee his salary, as Shams Charania of RealGM writes. Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee wouldn’t be shocked to see Moreland end up with Denver, where former Sacramento GM Pete D’Alessandro, who signed him to the Kings last year, works in the Nuggets front office, but Bill Herenda of CSN California heard early word suggesting that won’t happen (Twitter links).
The Warriors will surely chase Kevin Durant next summer, when he’s set for free agency, but realistically, they’d have to sign-and-trade for him, and such a deal would probably have to include Harrison Barnes plus more, as Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group posits in a look at Golden State’s chances for the former MVP.
Golden State has promoted Luke Walton to lead assistant to replace Alvin Gentry, the team announced. Gentry became the head coach of the Pelicans earlier this summer. Walton joined the Warriors coaching staff last year.
The Suns have officially added Earl Watson, Nate Bjorkgren and Jason Fraser to their coaching staff, the team announced. Watson and Fraser come from the Spurs D-League team while Bjorkgren had coached Phoenix’s D-League affiliate. Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group first reported the addition of Watson, who helped with the Suns’ pitch to LaMarcus Aldridge, his former teammate with the Trail Blazers.

Bucks Sign Chris Copeland

July 29th, 2015 at 11:23am CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 29TH, 11:23am: Copeland has officially signed with the Bucks, the team announced.

JULY 23RD, 2:24pm: The Bucks and Chris Copeland have a verbal agreement on a one-year deal, reports Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported Tuesday that the sides were finalizing a deal, but the Spurs and Thunder remained in the mix, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports revealed shortly afterward. The John Spencer client will see in excess of $1.1MM on his contract, league sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). That indicates that he’s receiving a slice of Milwaukee’s $2.814MM room exception, since the minimum salary for the three-year veteran is $981,348.

Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times first identified the Bucks as an interested party nearly two weeks ago, and he heard last week from some higher-ups around the league that Milwaukee had become the front-runner for him. The sides met on Tuesday, Woelfel later reported, and he worked out for the team that day as well, according to Spears.

Copeland just finished a two-year deal with the Pacers that he signed after a surprising season as a rookie for the Knicks in 2012/13. He and Bucks coach Jason Kidd were teammates in New York. The Pacers elected not to make a qualifying offer of more than $3.9MM, so Copeland has been an unrestricted free agent this month.

The 31-year-old was the victim of a stabbing outside a New York nightclub in April that left him with injuries that curtailed his season, one in which he’d fallen out of the Pacers rotation after injuries to others thrust him into use. Normally a strong outside shooter, he made just 31.1% of his three-pointers in 2014/15, and he never made the sort of impact in Indiana that he did with the Knicks.

Do you think Copeland will be a part of the rotation for the Bucks this year? Leave a comment to let us know.

Texas Notes: Jenkins, Mavs, Spurs, Fredette

July 28th, 2015 at 6:52pm CST by ChrisCrouse

John Jenkins had interest from several teams this offseason, but the former No. 23 overall pick is optimistic about his decision to sign with Dallas, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes.

“I feel great about it,” Jenkins said. “I think I needed a fresh start, and the Mavericks are giving me that opportunity. I waited longer than I thought I’d have to wait, as crazy as it was, but it was well worth it going to this team and for their interest in me. It feels good to be wanted and to go out there and be a part of what is going on with their team is great.”

The guard was vaunted for his shooting ability prior to the 2012 Draft and he has shown the potential to be an offensive weapon since coming into the league. Jenkins shot 37.5% from behind the arc in limited playing time during his first three seasons. New addition Wesley Matthews is expected to be ready for opening night after recovering from an Achilles injury, but if the Mavs choose to proceed with caution and limit the 28-year-old’s minutes, Jenkins could see significant playing time right off the bat. Owner Mark Cuban expects big things from the shooting guard and gave him some advice after the team signed him last week.

“He told me just to make buckets,” said Jenkins. “That’s what I do best, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Here’s more from The Lone Star State:

The deals that Brandon Ashley and Jamil Wilson signed with the Mavericks cover three seasons and each has a partial guarantee of $50K for this year, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
The Mavs also renounced their rights to Bernard James, though they did the same last year and still re-signed him, Pincus points out (on Twitter).
Jimmer Fredette‘s deal with the Spurs is a one-year, minimum-salary arrangement with $507,711 partially guaranteed, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Knicks, Others Eye Kevin Seraphin

July 28th, 2015 at 10:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks, Lakers and Wizards continue to show interest in Kevin Seraphin, league sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports reported interest from the Lakers early this month, and Scotto added the Wizards a few days later, but this appears to be the first time New York has come up in connection with the center.

The Knicks are also among the teams with interest in Carlos Boozer, but it’s not clear if New York sees the pair of big men as an either-or proposition. The Knicks and Lakers have their $2.814MM room exception available, but the Wizards have his Bird rights, so they can outbid other teams.

The Wizards were expected earlier this month to attempt to find a team willing to sign-and-trade for Seraphin, a maneuver that would ostensibly allow Washington to create a trade exception. In any case, Seraphin seemed a long shot to return to the Wizards at season’s end, as he’s reportedly been looking for a chance to compete for the starting job, though, according to Scotto, Washington at least touched base with him this month. The Wizards have Marcin Gortat entering year two of a five-year deal to man the pivot. Starting would also be a difficult proposition for Seraphin in New York, where free agent signee Robin Lopez seems firmly entrenched, and the same is probably true of the Lakers, who traded for Roy Hibbert.

The Suns and Mavericks also reportedly showed interest earlier this month, though it’s unclear if they’re still in the mix. The Spurs apparently had tentative interest in case David West signed elsewhere, but West took the minimum to play for San Antonio.

Which team needs Seraphin the most: The Knicks, Lakers or Wizards? Leave a comment to let us know.

Latest On Carlos Boozer

July 28th, 2015 at 9:12am CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks, Rockets and Mavericks continue to have interest in signing Carlos Boozer, league sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). Scotto first identified the Knicks as among the teams eyeing the Rob Pelinka client earlier this month, though Marc Berman of the New York Post reported soon thereafter that the Knicks had engaged in internal conversations about him but hadn’t made a formal pursuit. Chris Broussard of ESPN.com pegged the Mavs and Rockets as among the teams in on Boozer just before free agency began, while Broussard later heard that the Mavs were one of four teams in talks with the former All-Star.

The Knicks and Mavericks have access to the $2.814MM room exception. The Rockets are in a tough spot, since they only have roughly $2.3MM left on their mid-level exception to spend but would trigger a hard cap if they gave any of it to Boozer. Houston also has No. 32 pick Montrezl Harrell who remains unsigned.

Several other teams, including the Clippers, Spurs, Raptors, Pelicans, Nuggets, Nets, Lakers and Heat, have reportedly been interested in Boozer over the last month, but it’s unclear if any of them remain in the mix. Boozer and the Clippers reportedly had mutual interest.

And-Ones: Bucks Arena, Mavs, Huestis

July 27th, 2015 at 10:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The $500MM plan to fund a new Bucks arena has enough votes to pass the Wisconsin State Assembly on Tuesday, Republican Majority Leader Jim Steineke said, according to Scott Bauer of the Associated Press. Under the proposal, half of the cost would initially be paid by state and local taxpayers and the other $250MM would come from current and former Bucks owners, Bauer continues. If approved without any changes by the Assembly, the bill would then head to Governor Scott Walker for his consideration, Bauer adds.

In other news around the league:

The Mavericks have renounced their rights to Bernard James, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Pincus notes the Mavs did the same thing last summer, then re-signed him. James’ cap hold was $947,276.
The Spurs’ contract with Reggie Williams is not guaranteed, Pincus reports in a separate tweet. Williams would make approximately $1.186MM this upcoming season if he gets paid the full amount.
The Thunder are saving their final open roster spot for Josh Huestis, Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link). Oklahoma City selected the 6’7” forward with the 29th overall pick in 2014 but he spent last season with the Oklahoma City Blue of the D-League.
The Warriors will hire from within regarding their coaching moves and promote Luke Walton and Jarron Collins, Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com tweets.

Youssou Ndoye, Spurs Agree To Camp Deal

July 26th, 2015 at 11:19am CST by ChrisCrouse

The Spurs will sign Youssou Ndoye for training camp, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The expectation is that the center will play for San Antonio’s D-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs.

The St. Bonaventure product was reportedly willing to sign overseas and become a draft-and-stash prospect had an NBA team selected him in last month’s draft. He had worked out for several teams, including San Antonio, but he was not selected.

Ndoye has a lot of upside as former Nets executive Bobby Marks tweets. He played for the Spurs in this year’s summer league in Vegas. The big man averaged 3.17 points and 0.5 blocks in just 9.4 minutes per game. With such low minute totals, perhaps the Spurs didn’t want to showcase the center’s upside in the summer league and risk another team swooping in to offer him an NBA deal, although that is just my speculation.

Nikola Milutinov Signs To Play In Greece

July 25th, 2015 at 9:38am CST by Will Joseph

Nikola Milutinov, who the Spurs drafted with the No. 26 overall pick, has signed a three-year deal with Olympiacos of Greece, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports.

Carchia initially reported negotiations between Milutinov and Olympiacos on Friday. The Spurs were not going to sign him, anyway, this season. The Spurs have already filed paperwork with the NBA stating that he won’t sign this season so that the team could remove his cap hold.

The big man had reportedly been close to a deal with Panathinaikos, another Greek team, but Panathinaikos landed Miroslav Raduljica instead. Milutinov spent this past season with KK Partizan in his native Serbia.

Southwest Notes: Curry, Fredette, McDaniels

July 24th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The competition in the Western Conference is fierce, and Rockets GM Daryl Morey acknowledges that even in the wake of the Ty Lawson trade, his team isn’t the favorite, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle relays. Still, the Rockets made a key step forward, as Feigen examines.

“People always used to say our point guard position was terrible, the worst, whatever,” Morey said. “I always pointed out that Pat Beverley was a really good player. He’s just maybe suffering compared to all these perennial All-Stars we go against in the West. Obviously, we’re still going to be going against those very difficult All-Stars, but Ty Lawson is somebody who gives you a top-10 point guard in the league, somebody who can really help us.”

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

The Pelicans only made a “token offer” to Seth Curry that included a partial guarantee, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). A previous report indicated that they were close to a deal with him for a guaranteed contract. Curry signed a two-year, fully guaranteed contract with the Kings.
New Orleans didn’t want to re-sign Jimmer Fredette, Wojnarowski says in the same tweet. The ex-Pelicans guard signed with the Spurs instead. Still, Fredette faces a challenge to find his niche in San Antonio, where he’ll have to prove he’s capable of replacing Marco Belinelli‘s shooting and beat out Kyle Anderson and Jonathon Simmons for minutes, as Jay Yeomans of the Deseret News examines.
The three-year contract that K.J. McDaniels signed with the Rockets includes a team option on the final season and starts at $3.19MM, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. That first-year salary figure means Houston is essentially prevented from using any more of its mid-level exception without triggering an $88.74MM hard cap.
Maurice Ndour‘s contract with the Mavericks is for three years, with this season’s salary and half of next season’s guaranteed, league sources tell Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link).
Nikola Milutinov, this year’s No. 26 overall pick, is negotiating with Olympiacos of Greece, sources tell Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia. The Spurs draftee had reportedly been close to a deal with Panathinaikos, another Greek team, but Panathinaikos landed Miroslav Raduljica instead. Regardless, the Spurs won’t sign him this season.