Melvin Ely Signs With Japanese Team
Former Pelicans big man Melvin Ely has signed a deal that will have him playing with the Gunma Crane Thunders in Japan next season, the team announced. He still needs to pass a physical before the contract can be finalized, passes along Ed Odeven of the Japan Times (hat tip to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando).
Ely wasn’t a frequent topic of discussion this offseason, as the meager amount of recent activity on his rumor page shows. The former lottery pick’s non-guaranteed pact was waived by the Wizards in July after a three team swap sent him from New Orleans to Washington. The Relativity Sports client appeared in just two games for the Pelicans last season, spending most of his time in the D-League.
Terms of the new deal aren’t immediately clear, and it remains to be seen whether or not the 36-year-old’s contract will feature an escape clause allowing him to return to the NBA if a stateside club wants to sign him. Given his age and the sparse amount of NBA playing time he’s seen in recent years, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see Ely wrap up his basketball career overseas.
Clippers Sign Hedo Turkoglu
6:56pm: Sources confirm to Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com that the deal is a one-year arrangement at the veteran’s minimum.
6:31pm: The Clippers have announced the signing in a team release.
“We are happy to welcome Hedo back to the Clippers,” said Clippers president and head coach Doc Rivers. “Hedo is a versatile, veteran presence who contributed to the championship culture we are building in Los Angeles.”
5:38pm: Hedo Turkoglu‘s agency, Tandem Sports, tweeted their congratulations on his official signing with the Clippers (H/T J. Michael of CSNWashington.com). The deal hasn’t been announced by the team, but a contract has been in the works since late August.
The final salary agreement is yet to be reported, but the Clippers are among the teams only able to offer the minimum. The one-year, $1.4MM figure reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports when the two sides began nearing an agreement is in line with the minimum for a veteran of Turkoglu’s tenure. It will presumably be a guaranteed contract, which would likely put Los Angeles at 14 guaranteed roster spots, one short of the max to keep for the regular season.
The forward will play his fifteenth season for the Clippers in 2014/15, hoping to contribute more than he has in recent years. As a member of the Magic and Clippers for parts of the last two seasons, Turkoglu has scored less than 3.0 PPG and averaged at or below career lows in minutes, field goal percentage, and rebounds per contest. The veteran has career averages of 11.5 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 3.0 APG, and his 38.2% career three-point percentage is his most valuable skill at this point in his career.
D.J. Stephens To Join Jazz For Camp?
2:34pm: Stephens’ agent tells Sportando that there’s no deal, but that his client will meet with the Jazz as planned this weekend (Twitter link).
2:00pm: D.J. Stephens and the Jazz have struck a non-guaranteed deal that will bring the former Bucks swingman to training camp, Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi reports. The 23-year-old had been set to work out for the club this weekend, as Boston Globe correspondent Jake Fischer reported earlier today, but either the workout has already taken place or Utah simply decided it already knew enough about Stephens to bring him aboard.
Stephens doesn’t have much of an NBA track record, having appeared in three games for a total of 15 minutes while on a 10-day pact with Milwaukee this past season. That was his only regular season NBA action after he went undrafted out of Memphis, and since he didn’t go to camp with an NBA team last autumn or participate in summer league this year, his only other brush with the league came during summer league in 2013. That year he averaged 4.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 10.6 minutes per game over eight combined appearances with the summer league squads of the Heat and Mavs.
The APAA Sports Group client has unprecedented hops, as I noted earlier, and he made his mark as a defender in college, winning Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior. He’ll join 18 others on the Jazz, and he’ll face long odds to last on the roster beyond the preseason, since 17 of his new teammates have at least some guaranteed money on their deals. Still, I had been somewhat dubious that his workout would lead to a camp invitation, so perhaps another surprise is in store.
Sixers Sign Ronald Roberts Jr.
SEPTEMBER 29TH: The team acknowledged the signing, including Roberts on the preseason roster it sent via press release.
SEPTEMBER 12TH: The Sixers and Roberts have a signed contract, according to the RealGM transactions log, which confirms the arrangement is for multiple years. The team has yet to make an official announcement.
AUGUST 12TH: 7:33pm: Adam Pensack, Roberts Jr.’s agent, wouldn’t confirm that there was a deal in place between the two sides, reports Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com. Pensack added that there’d be news on his client within the next few weeks, says Lynam.
8:41am: The Sixers have agreed to a partially guaranteed deal with undrafted power forward Ronald Roberts Jr. that covers three seasons, as Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi confirms. Cauchi reported earlier this month that Roberts was likely to join the team. The 23-year-old from St. Joseph’s had inked a preliminary deal with Chalon-Sur-Saone of France, but it included a clause that allows him to back out to head to the NBA. It’s likely a minimum-salary arrangement with Philadelphia, though the Sixers have no shortage of cap room if they wanted to exceed that amount.
Roberts had been a long shot to hear his name called on draft night, ranking 93rd in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress listings and just 143rd with Chad Ford of ESPN.com, but an impressive summer league stint lifted his stock. He averaged 10.2 points and 7.4 rebounds in 23.4 minutes per game across five appearance for the Sixers summer league team in Orlando. He saw fewer minutes in four games with the Heat’s summer league squad in Las Vegas, notching 7.0 PPG and 3.8 RPG in 14.0 MPG, but he apparently had shown the Sixers enough.
The client of Pensack Sports Management Group joins 13 others on the Sixers, as our roster counts show. Philadelphia has fully guaranteed deals with only six players, an NBA low, and the team’s five agreements that include no guarantee at all are a league high.
Julyan Stone Signs To Play In Italy
Point guard Julyan Stone has signed with Reyer Venezia of Italy, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Armando Caporaso). The news is surprising, since a half-dozen NBA teams had reportedly shown interest of late and Stone had apparently fielded a couple of lucrative offers from China. It’s possible that the Italian deal includes some sort of escape clause that would allow him to latch on somewhere else for camp, but that’s not immediately clear, and it seems most likely that the 25-year-old who’s spent the past three years in the NBA won’t be in the league when the 2014/15 season begins.
Reports have indicated that the Spurs, Lakers, Cavs, Clippers and Heat have all been on Stone’s workout agenda in the past couple of weeks, and the Kings looked like they were in the running for him, too. The Raptors cut Stone in July rather than guarantee his minimum salary for the season, though it appeared Toronto had interest in signing him to a new deal once he cleared waivers. He was reportedly in talks with the Sixers, Bucks and Kings around the same time, too, but chatter surrounding the Giovanni Funiciello client dried up until late August.
Raptors GM Masai Ujiri signed the former UTEP Miner to both of his NBA deals, the first coming when Ujiri was in charge of the Nuggets front office. Injury helped keep Stone from seeing much action the past three years, but when he has been available to play, his teams haven’t often called upon him, and he’s averaged just 1.3 points and 1.1 assists in 7.0 minutes per game across 47 appearances for his NBA career.
The addition of Stone makes up for Reyer Venezia’s loss of fellow NBA veteran Lorenzo Brown, whose deal with the team was voided after he failed his physical.
Cavs Sign Chris Crawford
FRIDAY, 7:56am: The contract runs two years and is partially guaranteed, sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). It’s almost certainly for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Cavs are able to give.
THURSDAY, 11:07pm: The Cavaliers have signed Chris Crawford to a multi-year deal, according to the RealGM Transactions log. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it’s most likely a non-guaranteed camp deal. This signing brings Cleveland’s pre-season roster count to 18, with 12 of those contracts being guaranteed.
Crawford appeared in five games for the Rockets’ entry in the Orlando Summer league, where he averaged 10.2 PPG on 38.8% shooting. He will compete in training camp with John Lucas III and Matthew Dellavedova for a backup guard slot on the final roster.
The 6’4″, 22 year-old 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.
Mustafa Shakur Signs To Play In Lithuania
FRIDAY, 7:48am: The deal is official, the Euroleague announced.
THURSDAY, 4:15pm: Two-year NBA veteran Mustafa Shakur has signed a deal to play for Neptunas, a team in Lithuania, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The team has yet to make an official announcement, and the terms of the deal aren’t immediately clear, so it’s unknown whether the contract includes any sort of NBA escape clause, but it appears the point guard won’t return to the NBA for camp this fall.
Shakur made cameos in three games with the Thunder after inking a 10-day contract this past March, but Oklahoma City decided against re-signing him once it expired. The Keith Kreiter client spent much of last season in the D-League with the affiliates of the Thunder and Knicks, and he also made a brief two-game sojourn to play for Tadamon Zouk of Lebanon.
The 30-year-old’s most extensive NBA action came in 2010/11 with the Wizards, when he averaged 2.3 points in 7.2 minutes per game across 22 contests. Shakur joins James Anderson and Maalik Wayns among players heading to Lithuania after having spent at least part of last season in the NBA. Both Anderson and Wayns are set to play for Zalgiris Kaunas.
Grizzlies Sign Luke Hancock For Camp
SEPTEMBER 25TH: The deal is official, as the Grizzlies have followed up with a formal announcement.
SEPTEMBER 11TH: Memphis has yet to make an official announcement, but the Grizzlies and Hancock put pen to paper last week, as the RealGM transactions log shows. Hancock’s deal is without a guarantee, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
AUGUST 31ST: Luke Hancock has agreed to a one-year, minimum salary deal with the Grizzlies, league sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter).
Hancock began his collegiate career at George Mason University before the departure of coach Jim Larrañaga led him to transfer to Louisville. In 2013, Hancock was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA tournament as he helped lead the Cardinals to a National Championship.
Hancock auditioned for the 76ers, Pistons, Bucks, Jazz, Rockets, and Celtics prior to the draft but wasn’t selected in June. The Pedro Power client averaged 10.1 PPG and shot ~37% from downtown in his two seasons with Louisville.
Nets Sign Jerome Jordan For Camp
12:33pm: The deal is official, the Nets announced via press release.
12:08pm: The Nets have struck a deal to bring former Knicks center Jerome Jordan to training camp, reports Robert Windrem of Nets Daily. The precise terms aren’t immediately clear, but it’s almost certainly for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Nets can give. Jordan has put pen to paper, and an official announcement from the team is imminent, according to Windrem.
The 7’0″ Jordan saw sparce playing time in 21 games for the Knicks in 2011/12, having since played in the D-League, the Philippines, and last season with Granarolo Bologna of Italy. He also spent the 2012 preseason with the Grizzlies. The former 44th overall pick out of Tulsa was briefly with the Rockets, who acquired him from New York as part of the Marcus Camby sign-and-trade in July 2012, but Houston waived him shortly thereafter. The Knicks appeared to have passing interest in a reunion last summer, but a deal never materialized.
The Nets have been carrying just 13 fully guaranteed contracts, as Windrem points out and as our roster counts show. So, Jordan appears to have a decent shot to make it to opening night if he can edge out Cory Jefferson, who has a partial guarantee worth $75K, and Jorge Gutierrez, whose non-guaranteed deal will become partially guaranteed for $25K if he sticks on the roster through September 26th. Agent Daniel Moldovan said in July that shooting guard Michael Jenkins would join the Nets for camp, too, but the team has yet to make that deal official.
Ryan Gomes Signs To Play In Spain
Eight-year NBA veteran Ryan Gomes has signed with Spain’s Saski Baskonia, also known as Laboral Kuxta, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The terms are unclear, but it looks like Gomes won’t head to camp with an NBA team this year, unlike last season, when he made the Thunder’s opening night roster.
Gomes remained with Oklahoma City into January, but he appeared in only five games, and the Celtics released him shortly after he went to Boston in the three-team Courtney Lee trade and right before his contract would have become fully guaranteed for the season. The former 50th overall pick out of Providence played much more extensively during his first seven seasons in the league, topping out at 13.3 points in 31.9 minutes per game for the Timberwolves in 2007/08.
The 32-year-old is returning to Europe after spending part of 2012/13 playing in Germany. Gomes will join Tornike Shengelia, who struck a deal with Baskonia in May.