Stephen Holt

Cavs Waive Chris Crawford, Stephen Holt

The Cavs announced that they have waived guards Chris Crawford and Stephen Holt.  The Cavs’ roster now stands at 16.

Crawford appeared in five preseason games for the Cavs, averaging 2.4 points and 1.6 assists in 7.6 minutes per game.  Cleveland signed Crawford late last month to a one-year, non-guaranteed pact.  The Memphis product, who was with the Rockets in summer league, averaged just 8.7 PPG as a senior after putting up 10.4 PPG in his junior season.

Holt’s release was expected as David Pick of Eurobasket.com reported yesterday that he was headed to the Cavs’ D-League affiliate.  Holt, also signed in late September, played in two preseason games and averaged 3.0 points in 2.3 minutes per game.  The 23-year-old went undrafted out of Saint Mary’s back in 2012 after averaging 10.8 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 2.4 APG for his collegiate career.

This marks the second time in the past few weeks that the Cavs have waived Crawford.  The guard was waived to make room for the club’s acquisition of Keith Bogans and collected on his $20K partial guarantee.  When Bogans was traded to the Sixers, he was then re-signed to the non-guaranteed deal that was terminated today.

And-Ones: Cavs, Rockets, Mavs, D-League

Stephen Holt is heading to the Cavs‘ D-League affiliate, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. This would presumably mean that Cleveland will waive Holt and exercise their rights to him in the D-League. With Holt’s non-guaranteed contract out of the way, Cleveland’s remaining five camp invites on non- or partially guaranteed contracts would have a better shot at one of the team’s three open roster spots–outside of Anderson Varejao‘s lock to make the team on his partially guaranteed deal–for the regular season. Here’s more from around the league:

  • Rockets coach Kevin McHale indicated to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle that Houston’s first- and second-round draft picks, Clint Capela and Nick Johnson, respectively, will both spend significant time with the team’s D-League squad.
  • While the Mavericks have high expectations for this season, coach Rick Carlisle will have the challenge of meshing multiple new pieces for the second consecutive year. Carlisle tells Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News that high turnover for veteran players is a league-wide trend. “I view it as one of the realities of our business right now. Teams are going to try to keep their young core players together,” Carlisle said. “There are going to be some financial and basketball decisions that are going to be unavoidable.”  
  • Keegan LaBlance has entered his name into the 2014 NBA D-League Draft, according to Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside. The point guard will hope to be selected on the November 1 draft and begin a journey toward an NBA career.
  • Chadrack Lufile is also hoping to be selected in the D-League draft, telling Gino Pilato of DLeagueDigest.com that he turned down offers to play overseas this summer. “A large reason why I wanted to stay here is actually because my mom got really sick. I want to stay nearby,” said Lufile. “My ultimate goal is to play in the NBA, and it doesn’t matter how I get there, but I feel like the D-League is a great way for me to do so.”

Cavs Sign Stephen Holt To Camp Deal

WEDNESDAY, 9:52am: The deal is official, the team announced.

SATURDAY, 3:21pm: Holt had cut ties to Ludwigsburg and had been receiving interest from some Euroleague teams, Pick tweets.

3:11pm: The Cavs and guard Stephen Holt have reached an agreement on a training camp deal, David Pick of Eurobasket reports (Twitter link). Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it’s likely a standard minimum salary arrangement with little or no guaranteed money included. This would bring the Cavs preseason roster count to 16 players, with 11 fully guaranteed and two partially guaranteed deals included in that number. Holt had reportedly turned down a training camp invite from the Hawks to sign with a German team, so it’s unclear if he reached a buyout arrangement or was let go by that team if the signing occurred.

The Cavs have been busy today, trading the recently acquired Keith Bogans to the Sixers in addition to completing their first training camp practice. Cleveland is still setting their training camp roster, and Holt will compete for the final roster spot, though he’s an extreme longshot to make it to opening night. The other roster wildcard involved is Ray Allen, who the Cavs have pursued despite Allen being non-committal on returning for another season. His signing would change a number of roster plans.

The 6’4″, 23 year-old Holt went undrafted out of Saint Mary’s back in 2012, after averaging 10.8 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 2.4 APG for his career. His shooting numbers were .443/.381/.808.

And-Ones: Union, Douglas, Nets, Moreland

The contracts for six NBA players will become fully guaranteed if their teams don’t waive them by the end of Friday, and two more players will earn partial guarantees if they avoid getting cut. Draymond Green and Khris Middleton almost certainly won’t be cast aside between now and that deadline, but for the rest, the summer temperatures won’t be the only reason to sweat out the next few days. Here’s more from the NBA:

  • Players association VP Roger Mason Jr. insists that union leadership addressed concerns from membership regarding the hiring process for a new executive director and the departure of search committee leader Kevin Johnson, as Mason tells Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling. Discord had marked the union’s Monday meeting in which Michele Roberts handily won a vote to fill the executive director vacancy.
  • The Bulls had been targeting free agent Toney Douglas, but they’ve abandoned their pursuit after signing Aaron Brooks, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
  • Former NBA head coach Paul Westphal highlights the assistant coaching hires that the Nets officially announced today. Brooklyn also brought on Joe Wolf, Jay Humphries and Mavs assistant Tony Brown. John Welch and Jim Sann are the only holdovers from last season.
  • The Warriors and Knicks were interested in undrafted forward/center Eric Moreland, according to Shams Charania of RealGM. Charania reported Tuesday that Moreland had agreed to join the Kings instead.
  • The Hawks invited summer league guard Stephen Holt to fall training camp, but he instead signed a deal with a German team, reports Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Draft Notes: Gordon, Kings, Napier, Stauskas

Aaron Gordon reveals some of the experiences he had while working out for the Kings, Lakers, and Jazz to Tzvi Twersky of SLAM Magazine. Gordon mentions shooting alongside Chris Mullin and playing defense against Doug McDermott among other details. Here’s a rundown of tonight’s other draft notes:

  • Cleanthony Earl and Glenn Robinson III will work out for the Kings next week, reports Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal (subscription only).
  • Xavier Thames will work out for the Kings and Pacers, tweets Sean Cunningham of News10 Sacramento.
  • Chad Ford of ESPN.com adds the Thunder, Grizzlies, and Celtics to the list of teams that have auditioned Shabazz Napier (Insider only).
  • Nik Stauskas has rescheduled his scrubbed workout with the Lakers, the ESPN scribe adds.
  •  The Wolves will be working out K.J. McDaniels, Rodney Hood, and P.J. Hairston this weekend, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Wolfson adds that more players could be lined up for workouts in Minnesota in addition to those three.
  • Stephen Holt will work out for the Warriors, tweets Diamond Leung of Bay Area News Group.

Draft Notes: Knicks, Suns, Raptors, Randle

The Knicks find themselves without a selection in the upcoming draft, but Phil Jackson admitted he will try to buy a second-round pick from the Bucks or the Sixers, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post. Teams are allowed to exchange draft picks for cash, and Jackson sees Milwaukee and Philadelphia as the two teams who could most easily stand to part with some of their selections. Let’s round up the latest on the draft:

  • We already heard that the Suns worked out Lamar Patterson, De’Mon Brooks, and Kendall Williams yesterday, but the team watched another three seniors show their skills off as well, writes Paul Coro of AZ Central. Phoenix also observed Dwight Powell, Russ Smith, and Andre Dawkins.
  • Stephen Holt, John Bohannon, Eric Moreland, and Brendan Lane are scheduled to work out for the Kings, according to a team press release. Moreland has the most potential in the group according to the rankings of Chad Ford from ESPN, who has the Oregon State big man slotted at No. 77 on his list of top prospects.
  • Although Masai Ujiri considers second-round selections to be valuable, the Raptors GM said he would consider all of his options on draft night, ostensibly implying he wouldn’t be opposed to trading one or both of his second-rounders to move up. Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun has the full story.
  • League scouts and executives tell Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders that Julius Randle is a safe bet to be a solid contributor in the league and that he has the potential to “wreak havoc” and excel in the post at the level of Zach Randolph.

Cray Allred contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Sterling, Stackhouse, Warriors, Jazz

The NBA’s legal strategy for ousting Donald Sterling has been revealed, writes Darren Rovell of ESPN.com. According to Rovell, the NBA constitution states that grounds exist to remove any owner that “fail(s) or refuse(s) to fulfill its contractual obligations to the Association.” Among other “morals clauses,” Sterling has signed a document stating he would not “take any position or action that will materially and adversely affect a team or the league,” says Rovell. There’s still expectation that Sterling or his wife will fight the NBA in court, but the league at least has a starting point for Sterling’s removal. Here’s tonight’s look around the NBA:

  • The Knicks will interview Jerry Stackhouse for a position within the organization, reports Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. It’s not entirely clear what position Stackhouse will interview for, but he expressed interest in coaching at some capacity. It seems highly unlikely his interview would be for anything more than an assistant position, given New York’s strong pursuit of Steve Kerr.
  • Many around the league think that if the Pacers lose to the Wizards and Roy Hibbert continues to struggle, Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird will “do everything he can” to trade the All-Star center, according to ESPN’s Chris Broussard. Broussard made his comments on the Mike & Mike Show (Audio link).
  • The Jazz will work out draft prospects Taylor Braun, Akil Mitchell, Bryce Cotton, Mike Moser, Stephen Holt, and Ronald Roberts Jr, the team announced (via Twitter).
  • James Nunnally has signed a contract to play for the Cangrejeros de Santurce in Puerto Rico, the team announced (hat tip to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Nunnally spent most of 2013/14 in the D-League but did see NBA action on 10-day deals with the Hawks and Sixers.
  • Each member of Mark Jackson‘s coaching staff has been relieved of their duties, the Warriors announced (hat tip to Diamond Leung of Bay Area News).
  • The decision to fire Jackson means that Warriors‘ management will face pressure to win big next season in order to prove they made the right call, opines Tim Kawakami of Mercury News.
  • In his latest Insider piece, Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranks the top point guard prospects in the 2014 draft. To no surprise, Dante Exum sits atop his list. Hoops Rumors’ Zach Links recently profiled the Australian slasher.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.