Pistons Sign Lorenzo Brown For Camp
THURSDAY, 12:11pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
TUESDAY, 8:32am: Not surprisingly, the deal is for the minimum salary, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders confirms (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 8:55pm: The signing has taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log, although the team has yet to make an official announcement.
THURSDAY, 2:59pm: Hoops Rumors has learned that the deal does not include any guaranteed money.
2:52pm: Free agent guard Lorenzo Brown has reached agreement on a deal with the Pistons, a league source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). Charania adds that it’s a one-year deal for the 2013 second round pick (link). Brown became a free agent recently after Italy’s Reyer Venezia voided the contract he signed with the club in July because he failed his physical.
Brown appeared in 26 games for the Sixers last season before they cut him back in March to make room for Darius Johnson-Odom. He averaged 2.5 PPG, 1.1 RPG, and 1.6 APG. His slash line was .302/.100/.692.
Gustavo Ayon Signs With Real Madrid
SEPTEMBER 23RD: The deal is official, the Spanish ACB league announced (on Twitter; translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The tweet indicates that it’s a two-year contract, rather than a three-year arrangement as originally reported.
SEPTEMBER 19TH: Former Hawks big man Gustavo Ayon has agreed to sign with Real Madrid, according to Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi (on Twitter). Ayon’s contract will be for three years, which is the deal the two sides initially agreed to before his FC Barcelona buyout got in the way. The agreement was first reported by Spanish language outlet Solobasket.
Ayon actually agreed to a deal with Real Madrid earlier this month but FC Barcelona blocked the pact since they held his European rights. The club insisted on a $376K buyout, but the club said yesterday that Ayon was free to sign wherever he wanted to. It’s still not clear if Ayon wrote the check for the buyout, as he said he was willing to do, or if the club simply reliquished its hold on him.
The Spurs and Shandong of China both made formal offers to Ayon but the Real Madrid deal is presumably more lucrative. Shandong has since moved on as they agreed to sign Miroslav Raduljica earlier today.
Ayon is coming off a three-year, $4.5MM contract he signed with New Orleans shortly after the lockout. He wound up heading to the Magic and Bucks before spending last season with the Hawks, who made him an unrestricted free agent this summer when they declined to tender a qualifying offer.
Ramon Sessions Signs With Kings
MONDAY, 8:48pm: The Kings have formally announced Sessions’ signing.
SATURDAY, 11:22am: Sessions’ deal is fully guaranteed with no options (team or player), Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link).
10:55am: Free agent guard Ramon Sessions has signed with the Kings, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! 
Sports reports. The deal is for two years and $4.2MM, and Sacramento used their biannual exception for the acquisition. This brings the Kings’ preseason roster total to 19, and with Sessions’ deal most likely guaranteed for next season, Sacramento now has 12 fully-guaranteed deals, and two players carrying partial guarantees on their contracts. The Bucks had renounced their rights to Sessions last month, but there were rumors that the Rockets were interested in acquiring him via a sign-and-trade arrangement.
He appeared in 28 contests for Milwaukee last season after a February trade with the Bobcats which sent Sessions and Jeff Adrien to the Bucks for Luke Ridnour and Gary Neal. Sessions career numbers are 11.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 4.7 APG. His career slash line is .439/.311/.800.
Sessions will compete with Darren Collison for the starting point guard spot, though Collison is the likely frontrunner. He also can contribute at the shooting guard position, making him a versatile bench piece. Hoops Rumors’ Cray Allred detailed what Sessions brings to a team in his Free Agent Stock Watch piece on the 6’3″, 28 year-old out of Nevada.
Photo courtesy USA Today Sports Images
Hornets Sign Brian Qvale For Camp
The Hornets have signed former University of Montana center Brian Qvale, the team announced via press release. The release also included formal announcements of the team’s deals with Justin Cobbs and Dallas Lauderdale. David Pick of Eurobasket.com originally reported the team was set to sign Cobbs, while Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer first had the news on Lauderdale. Terms for all three remain unclear, but while the team has the capacity to give each of them more than the minimum salary, it seems unlikely that’s the case with any of the trio.
The 6’11” Qvale has spent the past three years playing overseas after he went undrafted in 2011. His addition to the Hornets roster is particularly surprising, given that he’s never attended camp with an NBA team before and didn’t take part in summer league action this past July. His career has taken him to Turkey, Belgium and last year to Germany, where he averaged 13.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 26.8 minutes per game for Medi Bayreuth.
Charlotte’s roster swells to 17 with today’s signings. The team has fully guaranteed pacts with 14 players, leaving Qvale, Cobbs and Lauderdale to fight for the 15th spot on the team’s opening-night roster, providing GM Rich Cho decides to carry a full complement of players into the regular season.
Bulls Re-Sign Nazr Mohammed
The Bulls have re-signed center Nazr Mohammed, the team announced (Twitter link). It’s not clear whether the 37-year-old is coming back with any guaranteed money in his contract, but Chicago almost certainly isn’t giving him more than the minimum salary he’s earned the past two seasons with the club, since that’s all the Bulls can hand out to free agents. They renounced their Early Bird rights to Mohammed in July.
It’s somewhat surprising to see Mohammed wind up back with Chicago, given the team’s beefed-up front line that includes newcomers Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic. Mohammed worked out for the Heat late last month, but there’s otherwise been little interest in the 16-year veteran. He appeared in 80 regular season games for the Bulls last season, but he averaged just 7.0 minutes per outing and totaled five minutes over two playoff appearances.
The Excel Sports Management client nonetheless maintained confidence throughout the summer that he’d find a deal, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. The question remains whether he’ll still find himself under contract come opening night. Chicago has 12 fully guaranteed deals plus a partially guaranteed arrangement with E’Twaun Moore, but the team hasn’t carried more than the NBA-minimum 13 players on opening night in any of the last three seasons.
Mavs Sign Doron Lamb
The Mavericks have signed shooting guard Doron Lamb, the team announced (Twitter link). All of the terms aren’t immediately clear, but Dallas is limited to giving out no more than the minimum salary. There’s no guaranteed money involved, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas (on Twitter).
Lamb, who turns 23 in November, has been on the market since shortly after the Magic waived him at the end of June to avoid guaranteeing his minimum salary for the season. Up to that point he’d been on the same contract that he’d signed after the Bucks made him the 42nd overall pick in 2012. He put up similar numbers in his first two seasons in the league, split between Milwaukee and Orlando. The Arn Tellem client has averaged 3.5 points in 12.7 minutes per game in the NBA, but he’s made his mark with 39.4% shooting on 1.3 three-point attempts per contest.
It’ll be an uphill battle for Lamb if he’s to make the opening-night roster, since Dallas already has 15 fully guaranteed deals, plus partially guaranteed arrangements with Eric Griffin and Ivan Johnson. Charlie Villanueva is also with the Mavs on a non-guaranteed deal.
Andray Blatche Signs With Chinese Team
7:00pm: Pick has informed Hoops Rumors that the $2MM figure first reported for Blatche’s deal is correct.
12:25pm: Andy Miller, Blatche’s agent, has confirmed the signing, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv tweets.
12:08pm: The deal is for approximately $2.5MM, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports notes (Twitter link).
11:55am: According to his sources, David Pick of Eurobasket (Twitter link) reports that Blatche has signed the deal, and it is for one-year, $2MM.
9:52am: Free agent big man Andray Blatche is close to signing a deal to play in the Chinese Basketball Association, Sohu.com reports (translation by Enea Trapani of Sportando). The interested team is the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, who have already inked Jordan Crawford, and were in negotiations with Lester Hudson, before things fell apart.
There were rumors that the Flying Tigers were interested in signing Aron Baynes, who has also been linked to Yao Ming’s Shanghai Sharks. According to Hupu.com, Xinjiang’s management confirmed the addition of a big man who participated in the FIBA World Cup, but officials denied the deal was with Baynes, so it looks like Blatche is their target.
Blatche is an unrestricted free agent after averaging 11.2 PPG and 5.3 RPG in 22.2 minutes per contest with an 18.8 PER for the Nets last season. The Heat, Raptors, and Clippers had all been rumored to be interested in the 6’11”, 27 year-old. If Blatche does indeed sign with the CBA, he would still have an opportunity to sign with an NBA team late in the season, since the Chinese League ends play in February, with the playoffs generally concluding in mid-to-late March. For more on Blatche, check out Chuck Myron’s Free Agent Stock Watch profile on the player.
DeAndre Liggins To Join Clippers For Camp?
SEPTEMBER 20TH, 12:38pm: An NBA executive has told Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link), that Liggins will not be with the Clippers in training camp, contrary to earlier reports.
SEPTEMBER 2ND, 4:01pm: Three-year NBA veteran DeAndre Liggins will sign a deal for training camp with the Clippers, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). That means he’ll almost certainly be on a non-guaranteed contract for the minimum salary, allowing the team to continue to chase veteran targets with guaranteed money.
Liggins saw just one minute of playing time in the NBA last season while he was on a pair of 10-day deals with the Heat, and he didn’t see much more action in earlier stints with the Thunder and Magic after Orlando drafted him 53rd overall in 2011. The 26-year-old swingman has played primarily in the D-League, earning an All-Star selection on that circuit this past season. The Clippers caught a look at him while he played for their summer league team in July, when he averaged 7.2 points in 23.2 minutes per contest. He also suited up for the Pistons summer league squad this year.
The addition of the Henry Thomas client gives the team deals with 12 players, though the Clippers are reportedly close to agreements with Chris Douglas-Roberts and Hedo Turkoglu. Reports have also indicated that the club has interest in Ray Allen and Ekpe Udoh.
Wolves Offer Eric Bledsoe Max Deal
4:53pm: The Suns have no interest in a sign-and-trade deal with Minnesota, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. According to Wojnarowski’s sources the Suns are only interested in trading Bledsoe for an All-Star, or a potential All-Star player, and had only considered Kevin Love in a possible sign-and-trade scenario with the Wolves.
3:53pm: The Suns own the Wolves’ 2015 first-round pick but it’s top-12 protected. Removing or reducing the protection could be a part of the Bledsoe talks, tweets Windhorst.
3:25pm: The Wolves are offering Eric Bledsoe a four-year, $63MM maximum level contract, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The offer turns up the heat on the Suns, who have offered the restricted free agent a four-year, $48MM deal. The Wolves don’t have the necessary cap room to sign the guard outright, so they’d have to swing a sign-and-trade deal with Phoenix.
Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reported yesterday that the Wolves were still in talks with the Suns on a sign-and-trade deal even after the completion of the Kevin Love deal. The possibility of the Wolves making a play for the 24-year-old seemed somewhat remote after Love was shipped to the Cavs, but it’s now very much a reality.
While the Suns and the Rich Paul client have been in a stalemate this summer, Phoenix was reportedly willing to dial up their offer if necessary. An increase of roughly $15MM probably wasn’t what they had in mind, however. Bledsoe’s camp made it known to Phoenix and every other team that he was only interested in signing a max contract. Otherwise, he said he was prepared to sign a one-year, $3.7MM qualifying offer with the Suns that would enable him to become an unencumbered free agent next summer. Fellow restricted free agent Greg Monroe made the same threat to the Pistons and made good on his promise earlier this summer.
In a sign-and-trade deal, the Suns would want Andrew Wiggins, according to Wolfson (on Twitter). That’s less-than-preferable for the Wolves, however, and that wouldn’t be a match, according to Wolfson. This is purely speculative, but since the Wolves were entertaining a Love-for-Bledsoe swap and Wiggins was the primary haul of the Love deal with Cleveland, it’s seems possible that the Wolves would consider including the No. 1 overall pick.
The Suns obviously want to keep Bledsoe (at the right price) but they would still have a very strong backcourt without the Kentucky product. The Suns have a highly-talented guard in Goran Dragic and the addition of free agent guard Isaiah Thomas on a four-year, $27MM deal would also lessen the sting. Phoenix also has first-round guard Tyler Ennis in reserve.
Bledsoe averaged 17.7 points and 5.5 assists across 43 games for the Suns last season after being traded from the Clippers. Unfortunately, he suffered a knee injury which cost him a good chunk of his 2013/14 campaign.
Jude LaCava of FOX 10 in Phoenix (on Twitter) first reported that the Wolves were prepared to offer Bledsoe a max deal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nets Void Hamady Ndiaye’s Deal
FRIDAY, 9:40am: The Nets announced that they have voiced Ndiaye’s deal. The Nets’ roster now stands at 16 players.
As we learned yesterday, the Rutgers product’s deal was non-guaranteed until October 25th, so the Nets aren’t on the hook for anything. Had Ndiaye remained with the club at that point, his contract would have been guaranteed for $25K.
WEDNESDAY, 10:31am: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
9:44am: The Nets and center Hamady Ndiaye have agreed to a deal for training camp, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). It’ll have to be a minimum-salary contract for the 7’0″ 27-year-old, since that’s all the Nets can give, though it’s unclear whether he’s receiving any guaranteed money.
Ndiaye spent part of three seasons with the Wizards and Kings, having made Sacramento’s opening night roster as a non-guaranteed training camp invitee last season. The Kings waived him in January just before his contract would have become guaranteed for the entire season. The Pinnacle Management Corp. client reportedly worked out for the Sixers shortly thereafter, but he wound up joining Philadelphia’s D-League team instead. He spent the last couple of weeks competing for his native Senegal in the FIBA World Cup, averaging 5.7 points and 4.0 rebounds in nearly 17 minutes a game.
The Nets have been carrying only 13 fully guaranteed deals, but they have a partially guaranteed arrangement with 60th overall pick Cory Jefferson, and Jorge Gutierrez‘s deal becomes partially guaranteed if he sticks with the club past September 26th. Ndiaye would probably have to outplay Jefferson, another big man, to earn a spot for the regular season.