Thunder Sign Michael Jenkins For Camp
MONDAY, 6:39pm: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
FRIDAY, 2:04pm: The Thunder and free agent shooting guard Michael Jenkins have struck agreement on a deal for training camp, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). Agent Daniel Moldovan tweeted this summer that Jenkins had a camp deal with the Nets after he’d been part of Brooklyn’s summer league squad, but his name wasn’t on the roster that Brooklyn released yesterday. Oklahoma City has the capacity to give more than the minimum salary, but it’s unlikely that Thunder did so, though perhaps there’s a small partial guarantee involved.
The 28-year-old Jenkins has spent much of his pro career overseas after going undrafted out of Winthrop in 2008, having played in Italy the past two seasons. Jenkins averaged 10.3 points and shot 39.9% from three-point range in 25.9 minutes per game for Pallacanestro Cantu last year, but his numbers were even better for Centrale del Latte Brescia the year before, when he put up 17.0 PPG in 31.4 MPG with 41.1% accuracy from behind the arc.
The Thunder have been carrying 14 fully guaranteed deals plus a non-guaranteed pact with Lance Thomas. That ostensibly gives Jenkins a decent shot to make the opening-night roster for Oklahoma City, though the Thunder have only carried 14 players to start the season the last two years.
Rockets Sign Akil Mitchell For Camp
FRIDAY, 11:07am: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
WEDNESDAY, 2:02pm: The Rockets are set to sign former Virginia power forward Akil Mitchell, reports Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston (Twitter link). The team has its biannual exception available to give him more than the minimum, but it seems most likely that it’s a minimum-salary deal for training camp that includes a nominal guarantee, at best.
The 6’8″ Mitchell spent time with Houston’s summer league team in July after going undrafted in June. He averaged 3.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game for the Rockets in the Orlando summer league, numbers that reflect what he did in college, where he put up 6.8 PPG and 7.0 RPG in 25.7 MPG as a senior. He had an expanded offensive role in his junior season, when he scored 13.1 PPG.
Mitchell, 22, is probably the final addition to the camp roster for Houston, which had been carrying deals with 19 players. It’ll be a tough road for him and the other camp invitees to make it to opening night, since 15 Rockets have fully guaranteed deals and Patrick Beverley, the projected starter at point guard, is on a non-guaranteed contract.
Cavs Sign A.J. Price To Camp Deal
FRIDAY, 8:35am: The deal is official, the team acknowledged, including Price on its training camp roster.
MONDAY, 9:52am: The Cavs have agreed to a training camp deal with A.J. Price, as Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer writes at the bottom of his weekend column. It’s not clear if there’s any guaranteed money involved or if the contract will cover more than one season, but it’s almost certainly for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Cavs can give.
Price made the Wolves out of camp last season on a non-guaranteed deal, though the team waived him in April, long after his minimum salary had become guaranteed for the season and about a month after he underwent an appendectomy. The point guard didn’t play following the surgery, and he saw just 99 minutes all season across 28 appearances for Minnesota. Price, who turns 28 next month, was a part of the rotation in his previous stops with the Pacers and Wizards after Indiana made him the 52nd overall pick in 2009.
The Excel Sports Management client likely rounds out the Cavs preseason roster, since the team had been carrying deals with 19 other players. Price is likely competing for one of two spots up in the air for the opening night roster, since Cleveland has 12 fully guaranteed pacts, while Anderson Varejao is one of the Cavs on a partially guaranteed contract.
Cavs Sign Lou Amundson For Camp
SEPTEMBER 26TH: The deal is official, the team acknowledged, including Amundson on its training camp roster.
SEPTEMBER 19TH: Big man Louis Amundson will be in training camp with the Cavs, agent Mark Bartelstein has confirmed to HoopsHype (via Twitter). The Mark Bartelstein client worked out for Cleveland earlier this week.
Amundson, 31, was released from his non-guaranteed deal with the Bulls in July. The veteran has bounced around quite a bit, having played for five teams in the last four seasons after a successful run in Phoenix’s rotation. He’s been exclusively on minimum-salary contracts the past two seasons and if he sticks with LeBron James & Co. it’ll be for that same figure.
The Cavs have been looking for rim protection of late, and Amundson, who has posted 2.0 blocks per 36 minutes over the course of his career, fits the bill. Cleveland already has deals with 18 players, but only 12 of them have fully guaranteed pacts. Anderson Varejao, who’s set to play a prominent role in the team’s frontcourt rotation as usual, is one of four Cavs with partially guaranteed deals.
Kings Sign David Wear For Camp
SEPTEMBER 25TH: The deal is official, the team confirmed on its training camp roster.
SEPTEMBER 4TH, 10:33pm: Wear has signed his contract with the Kings, according to the RealGM transaction log. There’s still yet to be an official announcement from the team.
1:54pm: It’ll be a non-guaranteed contract that covers one season, as Jones writes in his full story.
1:17pm: The Kings are set to sign undrafted former UCLA small forward David Wear to a deal for training camp, reports Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). Presumably it’ll be a minimum-salary contract, with perhaps a small partial guarantee.
The 6’9″ 23-year-old performed a few predraft workouts for NBA teams, but there wasn’t much buzz surrounding Wear in advance of draft night. He spent summer league with the Bulls, averaging 4.8 points and 2.0 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game across five appearances. He didn’t put up eye-popping numbers at UCLA, either, going for 6.5 PPG and 3.8 RPG in 22.9 MPG. His playing time decreased each successive year after he saw 28.4 MPG as a sophomore. Wear transferred to UCLA after spending his freshman year at North Carolina.
Wear joins 16 others who have agreements with the Kings, though only 12 of those deals are fully guaranteed, as our roster counts show. That includes Jason Terry, whom the team has agreed to trade to the Rockets for one or more non-guaranteed contracts. The Kings are also reportedly expected to waive Jeremy Tyler, whom Sacramento acquired via trade last month.
Kings Sign Trey Johnson For Camp
SEPTEMBER 25TH: The deal is official, the team confirmed on its training camp roster.
SEPTEMBER 11TH: It’s indeed a non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). It covers just one season, as Pincus shows on the Kings salary page at Basketball Insiders.
SEPTEMBER 9TH: The team has yet to make an official announcement, but the signing has taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log.
SEPTEMBER 5TH: The Kings have reached an agreement on a one-year deal for Trey Johnson, tweets Chris Haynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The contract details have yet to be reported, but it’s likely a non-guaranteed deal that only gives Johnson a roster spot for training camp. Johnson hasn’t been in the league since the 2011/12 season, and has only played in 23 total games across three NBA seasons. No other teams had reportedly shown any interest in Johnson this summer.
Once Sacramento executes an agreed-upon trade to send Jason Terry to the Rockets, the Kings will only have 11 guaranteed contracts for the 2014/15 season, giving Johnson a decent opportunity to make the team. The team must carry a minimum of 13 players for the regular season, so the guard will be competing for one of at least two open spots, unless the team adds another piece on a guaranteed deal before then.
The 6’5″ shooting guard has averaged 2.6 PPG on .333 shooting in his limited time in the league, and wasn’t featured heavily as a starter in his most recent overseas stints with Eurobasket clubs out of Israel and Venezuela. He has also spent parts of four seasons in the D-League, turning in his best season as a professional in a 2010/11 campaign in which he averaged 25.5 PPG
Celtics Waive Babb, Johnson
The Celtics have waived Chris Babb and Chris Johnson, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com reports (Twitter link). The team has confirmed the moves via a press release. Neither of the players’ deals carried any guaranteed money for the 2014/15 season.
These releases came in the wake of the deal that sent Keith Bogans and two future conditional Sacramento second round picks to the Cavaliers for Dwight Powell, John Lucas III, Malcolm Thomas, Erik Murphy, and Cleveland’s second-rounders in 2016 and 2017. The Celtics still have deals with 22 players, including Evan Turner, whose deal has not been officially announced yet, so they will still have to clear two more players prior to training camp beginning.
The 24 year-old Babb appeared in 14 games for Boston last season, averaging 1.6 PPG and 1.2 RPG in 9.4 minutes per night. Johnson, also 24 years old, played in 40 contest for the Celtics last season, putting up 6.3 PPG and grabbing 2.4 RPG while averaging 19.7 minutes per.
Cavs Acquire Keith Bogans
8:25pm: The trade is official, the Celtics announced via a press release.
8:20pm: More details about the trade are rolling in, with Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link) noting that the Celtics sent the Cavs the rights to the Kings’ 2015 and 2017 second-rounders, both of which are top-55 protected. Marc Stein of ESPN.com also adds Dwight Powell to the list of players heading to Boston.
8:00pm: The second-rounders going to the Celtics will be Cleveland’s 2016 and 2017 selections, notes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link).
7:41pm: The Celtics will also get a $5.3MM trade exception as part of the deal, notes Goodman (twitter link).
7:20pm: The Cavs will waive guard Chris Crawford once the deal is official, tweets Chris Haynes of The Plain Dealer.
7:16pm: The Celtics are also receiving two second round draft picks as part of the deal, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).
6:52pm: The Cavaliers and Celtics are in discussions on a trade that would send Keith Bogans to Cleveland, Marc Stein of ESPN.com is reporting. The Cavs are expected to package the non-guaranteed contracts of Erik Murphy, John Lucas III and Malcolm Thomas in return for Bogans, notes Stein.
The acquisition of the 34 year-old shooting guard out of Kentucky would suggest that Cleveland has either received word from free agent Ray Allen that he isn’t interested in signing with the team, or that he intends to retire, though that’s just speculation on my part. Whatever the case is, it would seem that Bogans is taking the role that the Cavs were intending Allen to fill.
Bogans has played 11 seasons in the league after being selected in the second round of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Bucks. His career numbers are 6.3 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.3 APG. Bogans’ career slash line is .394/.353/.716. He has two years remaining on his contract, both non-guaranteed, and he is scheduled to make $5,285,816 this coming season.
As for the Celtics, they currently have 21 players on their roster, including Evan Turner, whose signing has not been officially announced yet. So it’s highly likely that Boston will waive all three players once the deal is completed.
Cavs Waive Chris Crawford
The Cavaliers have waived Chris Crawford, according to the RealGM transactions log. Chris Haynes of The Plain Dealer was the first to report that Cleveland intended to waive the player (Twitter link). Crawford’s two year deal he signed just under two weeks ago included a guarantee of $20K for this season, but his 2015/16 salary was non-guaranteed.
This move comes on the heels of the Cavs acquiring Keith Bogans from the Celtics, which made Crawford expendable at the shooting guard position. The Cavs will have 16 players remaining on their roster after parting with Dwight Powell, John Lucas III, Erik Murphy, and Malcolm Thomas.
The 6’4″, 22 year-old Crawford went undrafted out of Memphis, where he put up career averages of 8.7 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 3.3 APG. His career slash line was .391/.367/.753.
No Deal For Sixers, Drew Gordon
SEPTEMBER 29TH: Gordon is not among the players listed on the preseason roster the team sent via press release, so presumably the deal is off.
SEPTEMBER 25TH: The Sixers and power forward Drew Gordon have agreed to a deal, Orazio Cauchi of Sportando reports. Length and terms of the agreement were not disclosed but it’s likely a non-guaranteed training camp invite for the 6’8″, 24 year-old out of New Mexico. This signing would put Philadelphia’s preseason roster count at 19, with only eight of those deals being fully guaranteed, and four others carrying partial guarantees.
Gordon went undrafted in 2012 after splitting his college time between UCLA and New Mexico. His career numbers were 10.0 PPG and 8.0 RPG. His career slash line was .541/.500/.689. He played for Philadelphia in this year’s Las Vegas Summer League where he averaged 6.6 PPG in six appearances.
The Sixers roster is wide open with the team having purged itself of most of its veteran talent, so there is a chance that Gordon could make it onto the opening night roster. The starter at power forward figures to be either Nerlens Noel, if he doesn’t man the pivot, or Luc Mbah a Moute. Gordon will be competing with Arnett Moultrie and Jarvis Varnado for minutes as a backup.