Mavericks Sign Al-Farouq Aminu
10:52am: The team has formally announced the signing, via press release.
JULY 29TH, 10:21am: The deal is official, according to the RealGM transactions log and Eric Pincus of Basketball insiders (Twitter link), though the team has yet to make an announcement.
JULY 23RD: Free agent forward Al-Farouq Aminu will sign with the Mavericks, Chris Haynes of CSN Northwest reports (via Twitter). Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas confirms the deal, citing Aminu’s agent Raymond Brothers and adding that it will be for the veteran’s minimum (Twitter links). More specifically, the pact is for two years and $2.1MM with a player option for the second year, reports NBA.com’s David Aldridge (via Twitter). Aminu played the last three seasons in New Orleans after being drafted No. 8 overall in 2010 by the Clippers. The Wake Forest product, still only 23, averaged 7.2 points and 6.2 rebounds for the Pelicans in 2013/14.
MacMahon reported that the Mavs were interested in Aminu earlier this month, a report that Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram seconded a few weeks later. This is the latest move in a busy offseason for the Mavericks, who voided their contract with Rashard Lewis earlier today and are reportedly close to a deal with point guard Jameer Nelson. Dallas also acquired Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton via trade in June and, of course, stole Chandler Parsons from the rival Rockets earlier this month.
As Aldridge adds, Lewis’ knee surgery caused Dallas to turn to Aminu. Aldridge also indicates that the Mavs have retained their $2.7MM room exception, which is expected to go to Nelson (Twitter links). At only 23 years of age, Aminu makes for an interesting addition to a new-look Mavericks team that will look to improve on a 49-win season in 2013/14. The former Demon Deacon will add versatility and rebounding ability to the Dallas frontcourt.
Wizards Sign Garrett Temple
JULY 29TH: The deal is official, according to the RealGM transactions log and Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), though the team has yet to make an announcement.
JULY 18TH: The Wizards have struck a deal with Garrett Temple that will allow the free agent guard to return to Washington, reports J. Michael of CSNWashington (Twitter link). It’ll be a two-year contract for the minimum salary that includes a player option for the final season, Michael adds (on Twitter). The move had been expected, as Michael wrote earlier this week.
Still, there were other teams in the market for the 28-year-old client of John Hamilton, as the Heat, Magic and Bulls all appeared to show interest. One report indicated he was leaning toward signing with Miami, while another contended that the wasn’t considering any offer from the Heat. Temple said early this month that he’d look at other teams but that he’d “love” to sign a new deal with the Wizards.
Temple bounced around the fringes of the league at the beginning of his career, playing for three teams in each of the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons. He finally gained firm footing with the Wizards in 2012/13, starting 36 games, but Washington had less call for him this past season, and his 1.8 points and 8.5 minutes per game were the lowest of his career. The new deal nonetheless signals that the Wizards have trust that Temple would perform capably if pressed into more action this coming year.
Pistons Sign Spencer Dinwiddie
JULY 29TH: The deal is official, according to the RealGM transactions log, though the team has yet to make an announcement. He’ll get $700K in the first year of his contract, about $200K more than the minimum, but he’ll make the minimum in the final two seasons of the deal, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The team clearly used cap space on the contract, since the room exception wouldn’t have allowed for a three-year contract.
JULY 22ND: The third year isn’t guaranteed, MLive’s David Mayo writes.
JULY 21ST: The Pistons and second-round pick Spencer Dinwiddie have agreed to a three-year deal, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Dinwiddie was selected with the eighth pick in the second round (38th overall).
The 21-year-old was viewed as a possible lottery candidate before his knee injury last season and was still projected as a late-first round choice by DraftExpress. The former Colorado standout might be limited in his first NBA campaign, but president/coach Stan Van Gundy and the rest of the front office obviously sees a high ceiling for the shooting guard. Last season, Dinwiddie averaged 14.7 PPG and 3.8 APG while shooting 41.3% from downtown and 85.7% from the charity stripe.
Lorenzo Brown To Play In Italy
Former Sixers guard Lorenzo Brown has signed with Reyer Venezia of Italy, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The terms are unclear, and it’s uncertain whether the new contract for the Andy Miller client includes an out clause that will allow him to return to the NBA this year, should an opportunity arise. He recently completed a five-game stint with the Clippers summer league team, averaging 13.6 points per game.
Brown, 23, appeared in 26 games with the Sixers last season before they cut him in March to make room for a 10-day contract to Darius Johnson-Odom. He was the 52nd pick in the 2013 draft, but the Timberwolves relinquished his rights when they waived him prior to opening night last season.
The Sixers scooped him up a few weeks into the season, but he saw most of his playing time at Philadelphia’s D-League affiliate, averaging 19.9 points, 6.9 assists and 5.3 rebounds in 35.0 minutes per game for the Delaware 87ers. He saw just 8.6 MPG with the big club in Philly, notching 2.5 PPG, 1.6 APG and 1.1 RPG. Brown also spent time with the D-League’s Springfield Armor.
Lakers Hire Byron Scott
9:36pm: Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has announced the signing of Scott, reports Mike Trudell of Lakers.com (Twitter link). Kupchak said, “After an extensive and thorough search, we’re proud to welcome Byron back to the Lakers family as our next head coach.”
9:26pm: Scott has signed the contract and the press conference to announce the deal will be held Tuesday afternoon at 1pm (CDT), reports Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 8:28am: There are minor details left to work out, but the main terms of the deal have been agreed upon, Scott tells Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link).
SATURDAY: 10:20pm: Medina writes that Scott was under the impression he had reached an agreement with Los Angeles, while the Lakers are claiming negotiations could take a couple more days to complete.
10:01pm: The Lakers have maintained to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News that negotiations are still ongoing with Scott (Twitter link). That would contradict the reported agreement, which Medina had confirmed earlier, presumably with a different source (on Twitter).
9:01pm: The Lakers have agreed to terms with Byron Scott, who will become the new head coach in Los Angeles, as first reported by Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter). The deal is for four-years and $17MM, the fourth year being a team option. The deal has been in the works since yesterday, when some reports indicated the team had offered him the job.
As expected, the contract comes in at a lower salary than recent first-year coaching hires Derek Fisher and Steve Kerr, although not dramatically so. The length of the deal would suggest that the Lakers are planning to let Scott guide the team through what will likely be some difficult seasons in the immediate future. Of course, the team has shuffled through two coaches on long-term contracts the past two seasons, so Scott will still need to perform well to truly feel secure. The team is poised to miss the playoffs for consecutive seasons for the first time in five decades, and barring a major haul in next year’s free agency, isn’t positioned to scale back to the top of the Western Conference next year.
Los Angeles took the most time of any team in filling its coaching vacancy this summer, as the front office committed to a methodical search and an aggressive free agency period. Scott has long considered himself the favorite for the job, and was reported as the Lakers front-runner in late June. Scott’s history with the organization and his relationship with Kobe Bryant were factors that worked in his favor.
Scott will join his fourth NBA team as head coach. The coaching veteran and former Lakers player has compiled a career 416-521 record on the bench. Scott guided the Nets to two Finals appearances early in his coaching career and took New Orleans into the playoffs in consecutive seasons later in his career, but has led losing efforts in every other season. Most recently, Scott’s Cavs teams finished with 24 wins or fewer in each of his three seasons in Cleveland.
Photo Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Lakers Sign Wesley Johnson
JULY 28th, 4:15pm: The Lakers have officially announced the signing, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (on Twitter).
JULY 18th: The Lakers will sign Wesley Johnson to a one-year contract, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. Broussard’s source sets the deal at $1MM, which is slightly above the minimum for a player of Johnson’s tenure. It’s possible that amount is rounded up from the minimum, although that’s just my speculation.
Recently, the odds seemed low that Johnson would return to Los Angeles. The fifth-year small forward had shown early interest in returning to the purple and gold after having his best season as a pro with the Lakers last season. On a team gutted by injuries, the former No. 4 pick started 62 games, averaging career highs in points, rebounds, steals, and blocks per game.
The Landmark Sports Agency, Inc. client has never averaged double-digit scoring in a season, with a disappointing career average of 8.1 PPG. Johnson’s athleticism is still an asset, and he will hope to stick in a rotation that projects to be more complete, if not highly competitive, next year. No other teams had been reported as interested in the wing prior to the news of his return.
Nemanja Dangubic Likely To Remain In Serbia
Spurs second-round draftee Nemanja Dangubic is close to signing with Serbian club KK Crvena Zvezda, the website Novosti.rs reports (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). KK Partizan, another Serbian team, is also pursuing him, but the 54th overall pick from this year’s draft is leaning toward Crvena Zvezda, according to the Novosti.rs report.
The Spurs acquired the rights to Dangubic, a 6’8″ shooting guard, in a draft-night trade with the Sixers. Dangubic, 21, would be the latest in a long line of Spurs “draft-and-stash” players from overseas. It’s no surprise the team isn’t bringing him aboard for this season, given the difficulty that Dangubic would face in finding playing time on a team that’s poised to return nearly everyone from last year’s championship roster.
Dangubic spent the last two years with KK Mega Vizura, another Serbian franchise. He averaged 10.3 points and 3.6 rebounds in 26.2 minutes per game this past season.
Rockets Sign Nick Johnson
SATURDAY, 7:26pm: According to Pincus, Houston indeed used part of the mid-level exception to sign Johnson (Twitter link). Pincus’ updated salary sheet for the Rockets indicates that Johnson’s three-year deal is worth a total of $2,332,826.
FRIDAY, 4:42pm: Johnson has signed with the team, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter) and the RealGM transactions log, though the Rockets have yet to make an official announcement.
TUESDAY, 9:50pm: The three-year deal will be fully guaranteed, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM.com (Twitter link). The Rockets are already above the salary cap, and considering that the bi-annual and minimum salary exceptions can only cover a deal of up to two years, it’s a near certainty that they’re using a portion of the mid-level exception to sign Johnson for three years.
8:25pm: The Rockets are expected to sign rookie guard Nick Johnson to a three-year deal with a team option in the third year, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The nephew of Hall-of-Famer Dennis Johnson was selected with the 42nd overall pick in last month’s draft.
Johnson recently played for the Rockets’ summer league team in Orlando and Las Vegas. In Orlando, the 6’3 guard produced 15.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 5.0 APG while shooting 44.6% from the field in 29.4 MPG through five games; in Las Vegas, Johnson’s numbers dipped to 12.5/4.4/2.3/0.384 in eight games despite a slight increase in minutes (30.3).
The University of Arizona standout played a total of three seasons in college, increasing his scoring, rebounding, free throw shooting percentage, and free throws attempted averages every year. In his final season as a Wildcat, Johnson notched 16.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 4.9 free throws attempted per game, and 33.1 MPG in 38 contests while shooting 43.2% from the field and 36.7% from long distance.
Lakers Re-Sign Xavier Henry
JULY 25TH: The Lakers have announced the signing as official in a team release.
“Xavier earned a spot on our team last season after being a training camp invitee, and we hope he continues the dedication to improving he has displayed for us thus far,” said GM Mitch Kupchak. “When healthy, Xavier provided our team with an offensive punch, and we expect he’ll strive to add to his skillset and become a well-rounded player.”
JULY 18TH: The Lakers will re-sign swingman Xavier Henry to a minimum-salary deal, reports Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter). It appears to be a one-year arrangement, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported as the sides neared agreement (Twitter link).
The Arn Tellem client was one of a handful of successful reclamation projects for the Lakers this past season, making the opening-night roster as a camp invitee and displaying a strong ability to score, averaging 10.0 points in 21.1 minutes per contest. Both numbers were career highs, as Henry had struggled to live up to having been the 12th overall pick in 2010.
The Pacers and Heat reached out to Henry this month, according to McMenamin (Twitter link), but he planned to work out for the Lakers after exploring options around the league, and the purple-and-gold maintained interest in re-signing him. Henry had wrist and knee surgeries in April but has been expected to be ready for training camp.
Omri Casspi Clears Waivers
Forward Omri Casspi has cleared waivers and hit free agency, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The news is a surprise, since the Kings had reportedly planned to submit a claim. The Pelicans released Casspi on Wednesday, as they had seemed likely to do after acquiring him from the Rockets in the Omer Asik trade.
Agent Dan Fegan had spoken with the Kings, among several other teams, about Casspi with New Orleans poised to let him go, as Casspi told Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee earlier this week. Casspi also expressed interest in returning to Sacramento, where he played his first two NBA seasons, which doubled as his most productive. The Kings and any other team are free to sign Casspi now that he’s hit the open market, but Sacramento might wind up paying a greater premium than the minimum salary he would have made if the Kings had claimed him off waivers.
The Kings have their $2.077MM biannual exception available if necessary to sign Casspi, who was a regular part of Houston’s rotation this past season. There are already 11 teams limited to doling out just the minimum salary to free agents, so that could work to Sacramento’s advantage if the team indeed still envisions a reunion with the 26-year-old native of Israel.
Sacramento is nonetheless about $1MM beneath the tax threshold, and if Casspi consents to sign a one-year deal for the minimum salary, the Kings will only be on the hook for the two-year veteran’s portion of it, with the league picking up the tab for the rest. That would allow the team to stay beneath the tax line and retain Quincy Acy‘s non-guaranteed contract, as Stein points out (on Twitter). The Kings would have been on the hook for his full five-year veteran’s minimum had they claimed his contract off waivers, since that deal had covered two years instead of one.