San Antonio Spurs Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Flynn, Pistons, Love

August 30th, 2014 at 10:55am CST by Eddie Scarito

Former NBA lottery pick Jonny Flynn has signed a contract with Capo d’Orlando of the Italian League, the team announced (translation by Sportando). Flynn last saw action in the NBA with the Blazers during the 2011/12 season. His career numbers are 9.2 PPG, 1.9 RPG, and 3.9 APG. His career slash line is .400/.338/.809.

Here’s more from around the league:

With Greg Monroe likely to sign his qualifying offer, the Pistons‘ frontcourt trio of Monroe, Josh Smith, and Andre Drummond will be together for another season. Coach Stan Van Gundy‘s challenge will be to figure out how to use them more effectively than they were last season, writes Perry A. Farrell of the Detroit Free Press.
Kevin Love has essentially traded places with Chris Bosh, writes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. Love is now the third option on the Cavs, much like Bosh was alongside LeBron James and Dwyane Wade with the Heat, Winderman notes, and it’s the statistical sacrifices of the third player that determines if these star trios are successful.
With the news that the Spurs are interested in Ray Allen, Nick Borges of ESPN.com runs down the free agent market for the future Hall-of-Famer. Borges notes that if Allen is seeking a title contender and the highest salary, then San Antonio is the best option. The Spurs can offer Allen the $5.3MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception. The Clippers, Mavs, Heat, and Cavaliers can only give Allen a veteran’s minimum contract.

Spurs Interested In Ray Allen

August 30th, 2014 at 8:51am CST by Eddie Scarito

The Spurs are showing interest in signing free agent Ray Allen, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). San Antonio’s preseason roster count currently sits at 17 players, after the recent signings of Josh Davis, Bryce Cotton, and JaMychal Green. The Spurs have also expressed interest in re-signing restricted free agent Aron Baynes, and bringing in power forward Gustavo Ayon.

For his part, Allen hasn’t even decided on whether or not he wants to play for another season or to retire. “It will require a perfect storm scenario for me,” said Allen earlier this month. “I’m in great shape, and I’ll continue to be in great shape, but I don’t want to go to a situation where I don’t understand the rhythm of how a coach coaches. He has to be a great coach, a veteran coach.” The Spurs’ Gregg Popovich certainly fits that requirement.

If Allen does decide to return for his 19th season in the NBA, he’ll have no shortage of suitors. Other teams already linked to Allen are the Cavs, Clippers, and Mavericks, notes Stein (Twitter link). The Cavs would seem to be the front runners, with former teammates LeBron James, Mike Miller, and James Jones already on the roster, and Cleveland primed to make a run at the title this season.

In 18 seasons, Allen’s career averages are 18.9 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 3.4 APG. His career slash line is .452/.400/.894. Hoops Rumors’ Chuck Myron took a look at the free agent stock of Allen, who is a surefire Hall of Famer, and though past his prime, he can still be a valuable asset off of the bench for a contending team.

Spurs Interested In Ayon, Baynes

August 29th, 2014 at 6:14pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Spurs have interest in signing power forward Gustavo Ayon, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). The Spurs preseason roster count currently stands at 17 players, after the recently announced deals with Josh Davis, Bryce Cotton, and JaMychal Green

Ayon, the 6’10”, 29 year-old played in 26 games for the Hawks last season, averaging 4.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 1.1 APG. In three NBA seasons his career numbers are 4.7 PPG and 4.4 RPG. His career slash line is .536/.000/.504. Most recently, Ayon played for Mexico in the Centrobasket Championship, and was named tournament MVP.

San Antonio’s interest in Ayon is in addition to still desiring to re-sign center Aron Baynes, who is their first priority, notes Stein (Twitter link), The 6’10”, 27 year-old appeared in 53 games for the Spurs last season, averaging 3.0 PPG and 2.7 RPG. Baynes is a restricted free agent, and has mulled inking a deal over in Europe, rather than signing his qualifying offer, worth slightly more than $1.115MM.

Western Notes: Lakers, Bonner, Taylor

August 28th, 2014 at 1:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Projecting the playoff teams in the Western Conference would be difficult enough if it weren’t for the unresolved saga involving Eric Bledsoe and the Suns, but Phoenix is the true X-factor in the equation as it stands. The Suns were 28-15 when Bledsoe played last season, a winning percentage of .651 that would have made them the West’s sixth seed. They were just 20-19 without him, which dragged the team down far enough to miss the playoffs. Of course, there are plenty of other unknowns still at play in the West, and we’ll round up the latest here:

The inclusion of Toney Douglas and Bobby Brown among those in Tuesday’s Lakers workout was somewhat curious, since they both have deals to play in China, but both contracts contain NBA escape clauses, as USA Today’s Sam Amick explains. Douglas intends to head to China regardless and views the audition as an early tryout for when he returns stateside after the Chinese season ends, agent David Falk tells Amick. Brown is interested in joining the Lakers right away if given the opportunity, Amick adds, and presumably so are the rest of the hopefuls who took part in the workout.
Matt Bonner only re-signed with the Spurs for one year, but the 34-year-old would like to play until he’s 40, as he tells Jonathan Demay of the French-language website Basket USA (translation via Jeff Garcia of Project Spurs).
Two Western Conference teams invited former University of Wisconsin point guard Jordan Taylor to camp, but he turned them down to take a deal with Israel’s Hapoel Holon instead, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. A trip to camp with an NBA team would have been a first for the 24-year-old, who spent summer league with the Bucks.

Spurs To Work Out Julyan Stone

August 27th, 2014 at 3:18pm CST by Chuck Myron

Free agent point guard Julyan Stone will be auditioning with the Spurs soon, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The 25-year-old Stone has been on the market since the Raptors cut him loose last month.

The Sixers, Bucks and Kings were discussing potential deals with Stone last month, as was Toronto, which envisioned bringing him back, as Charania reported then. The RealGM scribe reiterates today that Stone has engaged in talks with teams other than the Spurs, but it’s unclear if any of the clubs from last month are still in the mix. Stone has played sparingly over his three NBA seasons, never averaging more than the 8.1 minutes per game he saw as a rookie, but he appeared to be a favorite of Raptors GM Masai Ujiri, who brought Stone with him when he left the Nuggets for Toronto.

The Spurs have been active in their preparations for camp of late. This week the team signed Josh Davis, a power forward from San Diego State, and a report from last week indicated that Hakim Warrick was one of multiple free agents set to work out for the team. Summer leaguer Denzel Bowles is also apparently set to audition for San Antonio.

Contract Details: Clarkson, Young, Powell

August 26th, 2014 at 9:32pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Eric Pincus has once more updated his Basketball Insiders salary pages, and included in his changes are a few tidbits of previously unreported news on players who’ve signed this summer. We’ll pass along those items here:

The two-year deal that Jerrelle Benimon signed with the Nuggets is for the minimum salary and is partially guaranteed for $35K this season, while his 2015/16 salary is non-guaranteed, Pincus reports (Twitter link).
The Blazers gave Diante Garrett a $30K guarantee in the first year of his two-year minimum salary deal, but the second year is non-guaranteed, Pincus notes on Twitter.
Patric Young‘s two-year deal with the Pelicans is a minimum-salary arrangement that’s partially guaranteed for $55K this season, but it’s otherwise non-guaranteed, Pincus notes (Twitter link). Darius Miller‘s deal with the team is partially guaranteed for $400K this year but otherwise non-guaranteed, Pincus adds.
Both Will Cherry‘s and Jordan Hamilton‘s salaries are guaranteed for $25K for the 2014/15 season, Pincus tweets, adding that Hamilton’s pact is for the minimum. The Raptors signed Cherry to a two-year minimum salary deal, and Hamilton to a one-year arrangement. Cherry’s salary for 2015/16 is non-guaranteed, Pincus adds.
Dwight Powell‘s deal with the Cavaliers is fully guaranteed for the first season, with the second year non-guaranteed, Pincus reports (Twitter link). The contract covers just those two seasons, as Pincus notes.
The Spurs‘ two-year deal with JaMychal Green is for the minimum salary and has a $60K guarantee for this coming season, Pincus reports (Twitter link). It’s non-guaranteed for 2015/16, according to Pincus.
Sim Bhullar‘s deal is for one year and comes with a guarantee of $35K, while Eric Moreland‘s three-year contract is guaranteed for $200K this coming season and is otherwise non-guaranteed, Pincus notes (Twitter link). Both players are with the Kings, and, according to Pincus, make the minimum.
The two-year, minimum-salary deal that Jordan Clarkson signed with the Lakers is fully guaranteed for this coming season, but the 2015/16 season is non-guaranteed, Pincus reports (Twitter link).

And-Ones: Barea, Bledsoe, Bonner, Beasley

August 25th, 2014 at 2:42pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavs are probably better off for having lost LeBron James in 2010 than they would be if he had never gone to Miami since it gave them the chance to accumulate assets through rebuilding, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller argues. That helps explain why the Sixers, one of the other teams in the Kevin Love deal, are so aggressively stripping their roster, Ziller suggests. Still, Cleveland was remarkably lucky in the lottery, nabbing three No. 1 overall picks in four years, so it’s tough to say that another team can easily mimic the path of the Cavs. Here’s more from around the league:

The only players on the Wolves who are off-limits for a trade are the ones who just came aboard in the Love deal, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune writes within a chat with readers. J.J. Barea remains on the block after the Wolves failed to convince the Sixers to take him on in the Love trade, Zgoda also writes.
The Wolves like Eric Bledsoe quite a bit, but it’s tough to see a scenario in which they’d sign-and-trade for the Suns restricted free agent, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Phoenix reportedly made a last-ditch effort at a Bledsoe-for-Love swap, but Minnesota rejected that idea.
Backcourt mate Goran Dragic is hopeful that Bledsoe will be back with the Suns next season, as he tells Erildas Budraitis of RealGM.
Matt Bonner says there were several teams that inquired about him during his free agency this summer, but he let all of them know that he was waiting to see about a deal with the Spurs first, as he tells Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News. Bonner re-signed with the Spurs last month to a one-year deal for the minimum.
The Heat let Michael Beasley know they wouldn’t rule out re-signing him, but that’s standard practice for the team, which hasn’t made any offer to the forward, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The Heat isn’t high on bringing him back for several reasons, Jackson hears.

Southwest Notes: Bowles, Bzdelik, Mavs

August 23rd, 2014 at 6:11pm CST by Cray Allred

At the moment, the Southwest Division appears to be the only division in the NBA featuring all teams with playoff hopes for 2014/15. Here’s a rundown for what should be one of the most competitive groupings in the league:

Free agent Denzel Bowles will work out for the Spurs on September 7th, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). Bowles, who has spent time in the D-League and the Chinese Basketball Association, worked out for Charlotte at the end of last season but failed to earn a 10-day contract.
Jeff Bzdelik tells Ronald Tillery of Commercial Appeal [subscription-only] that he was brought to the Grizzlies as an assistant coach to focus on defense, where Memphis slipped from their elite standard last season.
In an Insider-only piece, Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com ranks the Mavs‘ re-calibrated frontcourt, featuring new arrivals Chandler Parsons and Tyson Chandler alongside Dirk Nowitzki, as the fourth-best big unit in the league.

Western Notes: Heslip, Marion, Spurs

August 22nd, 2014 at 6:34pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA season won’t officially start until Tuesday, October 28th, when the Spurs begin their season against the Mavericks. An expert poll over at ESPN.com has picked San Antonio to repeat as NBA champs, with the Cavs coming in second, and the Thunder rounding out the top-three. The Heat were the last franchise to go back-to-back, winning titles in 2012 and 2013, while the Spurs have never accomplished that feat.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

The Wolves were impressed with undrafted point guard Brady Heslip‘s performance for their summer league team, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Heslip recently changed agents, hiring Bernie Lee, and is attempting to land an NBA training camp invitation, Wolfson adds.
The Thunder have named Mark Daigneault as the new head coach of their D-League team, reports Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders. Daigneault spent the last four seasons as an assistant on Billy Donovan‘s staff at Florida, and replaces Darko Rajakivic who accepted a position on Scott Brooks‘ staff with the Thunder. Speaking about the hire, GM Sam Presti said, “Mark has placed a high value on development throughout his career and we feel that he is well aligned with the goals of our organization. His experience at Florida under Coach Donovan has provided him the platform to apply his intelligence and relationship skills to help strengthen the program. We are excited about Mark joining the organization and continuing his professional growth.“
When Shawn Marion left the Mavericks as a free agent this summer to sign with the Cavaliers, he did so knowing that he would come off the bench and play fewer minutes than he had in Dallas, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. In regards to Marion leaving, Mavs owner Mark Cuban said, “It’s different when you’re going back to your same team as supposed to going to a new team. I think there’s a different dynamic and different expectation.” Marion placed the opportunity to contend for a championship above monetary and playing time concerns in making his team selection, notes MacMahon.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Spurs To Audition Hakim Warrick

August 22nd, 2014 at 4:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Hakim Warrick will work out for the Spurs on September 1st, reports Mike Waters of The Post-Standard. The eight-year NBA veteran tells Waters that he expects other free agents to take part in the workout, too, as they all attempt to secure spots on San Antonio’s roster in advance of training camp.

This past season was the first Warrick spent outside the NBA after the Grizzlies drafted him 19th overall out of Syracuse in 2005. Warrick signed last December with the Liaoning Jiebao Hunters in China and put up 21.3 points and 9.1 rebounds in 33.8 minutes per game across 22 appearances. NBA interest has nonetheless seemingly been scarce ever since the Magic waived him shortly after acquiring him at the deadline in 2013.

The Spurs have 14 guaranteed deals to go along with their partially guaranteed arrangements with Bryce Cotton and JaMychal Green. The lack of full guarantees for Cotton and Green helped prompt Warrick to accept San Antonio’s invitation to work out, as Warrick tells Waters, since that would ostensibly give Warrick a better chance of making the opening-night roster were the Spurs to bring him to training camp.