Knicks Sign Justin Brownlee
MONDAY, 7:36pm: The Knicks have officially announced Brownlee's signing.
FRIDAY, 6:48pm: Zwerling clarifies that Brownlee has indeed accepted the camp invitation (Twitter link).
6:26pm: The Knicks have extended an invitation to small forward Justin Brownlee for their 20th and final preseason roster spot, tweets Bleacher Report's Jared Zwerling. The tweet seems to indicate that the 25-year-old former St. John's player has accepted the team's invitation, though that's not entirely clear. Brownlee was set to work out for the team as of last week.
Brownlee spent last season on the fringes of professional basketball with the San Diego Surf of the American Basketball Association, as our International Player Movement Tracker shows. He also has experience in the D-League and in Mexico. This is his first training camp invitation since he went undrafted in 2011, though he's been in summer league with the Knicks the past two years.
New York has only 12 players on fully guaranteed deals, but C.J. Leslie and Jeremy Tyler have partially guaranteed contracts. Cole Aldrich, Ike Diogu, Toure Murry, Josh Powell, and Chris Smith are all presumably on non-guaranteed deals, as Brownlee likely will be, so there will be plenty of competition for the open spots on the regular season roster.
The Knicks have been linked to a slew of players over the summer, but it appears their offseason search for end-of-the-bench options is at an end. DeSagana Diop, Hassan Whiteside and Ricky Davis are among the NBA veterans who were passed over.
Jazz Announce Three Camp Signings
The Jazz have officially announced the signings of Brian Cook, Justin Holiday and Dwayne Jones. Agreements involving all three had been reported this month. The team has 19 players under contract, though that doesn't include Nick Covington's deal, which we heard about this weekend.
Cook, Holiday and Jones all have NBA experience, though Cook has by far the most among the three, and he ranks in the top 10 among all of this year's NBA camp invitees in games played. Holiday is the only one of the trio to have appeared in a game last season, as he saw action in nine contests for the Sixers, alongside younger brother Jrue Holiday.
The Jazz have only 12 fully guaranteed contracts and Ian Clark's partially guaranteed deal, but with a full contingent of players for camp, none of the players on non-guaranteed deals seem like safe bets for the opening-night roster.
Bucks Release Junior Cadougan
The Bucks officially announced the signing of Junior Cadougan four days ago to bring their camp roster to 19, but now the Bucks say the Canadian point guard won't be in training camp because of visa issues (Twitter link). The team notes that its training camp roster is at 18 players in another tweet, so it appears the team has cut ties with Cadougan.
Cadougan spent the past four years at Marquette and went to high school in Texas, and he appeared briefly in two summer league games for the Bucks this year, so it's curious that he wasn't able to secure a visa in time for camp. He was a long-shot to make the opening-night roster anyway, since the Bucks already have 15 fully guaranteed contracts.
The 23-year-old could try his luck in another country as he seeks employment for the 2013/14 season. He may also attempt to resolve his visa issues in time for the D-League draft in about a month.
Mavericks Sign Renaldo Balkman
SEPTEMBER 30TH: The Mavs have officially announced the signing via press release.
SEPTEMBER 25TH: The Mavericks have reached an agreement on a non-guaranteed contact with free agent Renaldo Balkman, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas. Balkman, who was said to be considering Dallas' offer as of earlier today, was the 20th pick of the 2006 NBA draft by the Knicks.
Balkman will fill the Mavs' 20th and last roster spot for training camp and certainly fits the profile of the type of "active defensive-minded bodies" the team is said to be interested in. However, it will take some manuevering for Balkman, or any other Mav without a guarantee, to make the team considering Dallas already has 15 players with guaranteed deals on the roster.
Balkman, 29, last appeared in the league in 2011/12 with New York, where he played in only 14 games. Last season he averaged impressive numbers (25 PPG and 13.4 RPG) in the Philippine Basketball Association before he was banned for a year in March after choking a teammate. His career NBA averages are 4 PPG and 3.5 RPG over six seasons out of South Carolina.
Grant Jerrett To Sign With D-League
Grant Jerrett is the highest remaining unsigned draft pick from this year's draft, but it appears he'll soon be under contract with a D-League team. Jerrett, whose NBA rights are held by the Thunder, is expected to join the Oklahoma City's D-League affiliate, reports Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman. Players who aren't under contract with an NBA club, as is the case with Jerrett, usually have to enter the D-League draft before they can hook up with a specific D-League team, so it's not entirely certain that he'll be with the Tulsa 66ers, who are OKC's affiliate. In any case, the Thunder will retain his NBA rights while he plays in the D-League, making him something of a domestic "draft-and-stash" player.
Jerrett played one collegiate season at Arizona before the Blazers took him in the draft and promptly traded him to Oklahoma City. The 6'10" power forward saw just 17.8 minutes a game for the Wildcats, averaging 5.2 points and 3.6 rebounds, but he worked out for several teams prior to the draft and saw more action for the Thunder's summer-league team, notching 10.8 PPG and 3.5 RPG in 28.6 MPG.
The Thunder have just 17 players under contract and 12 fully guaranteed deals, so it isn't a numbers crunch that prevented the team from signing him for camp. Instead, it seems like the club views him as a project, and is content to watch him develop in the D-League for now.
Bobcats Sign Abdul Gaddy
The Bobcats have officially announced their training camp roster, which includes Abdul Gaddy, confirming that he accepted the team's invitation. Fellow camp invitees Troy Daniels, Patrick O'Bryant and James Southerland are also listed on the 18-man roster, as expected. They join Jeff Adrien, who signed with the team last season, as Bobcats with non-guaranteed contracts. Jannero Pargo's deal is partially guaranteed for $300K.
Gaddy played with Charlotte's summer league team this year after going undrafted out of Washington in June. The point guard averaged 5.3 points and 2.3 assists for the summer Bobcats, but may have authored his most impressive performance at the Portsmouth Invitational before the draft, where he dished out an average of 6.3 assists in a little more than 31 minutes a game.
Charlotte has only 12 fully guaranteed deals, which would, on the surface at least, give Gaddy a decent shot to make the opening-night roster. However, Pargo is in line to be the team's third-string point guard behind Kemba Walker and Ramon Sessions, so Gaddy would likely have to unseat the veteran and convince the team to waive Pargo despite his partial guarantee.
Nuggets Rumors: Fogg, Shaw, Connelly
Here's the latest news out of Denver..
- The Nuggets announced their complete training camp roster which includes a new name in guard Kyle Fogg. The 6'3" guard averaged 6.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists for the D-League's Rio Grande Valley Vipers last season. Fogg averaged 13.5 PPG in his senior season at Arizona in 2011/12, but went undrafted.
- Coach Brian Shaw won't say that this year's Nuggets squad will finish with less wins than last year (57), but he does acknowledge that there will be a focus on player development, writes Terry Frei of The Denver Post. The coach was also asked about a timetable for the return of Danilo Gallinari, but that's still an unknown at this point.
- General Manager Tim Connelly says that Denver was lucky to land Nate Robinson because he was being pursued by playoff teams, tweets Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post. The GM also acknowledged that the team isn't where he'd like it to be as the season draws near. While he likes the players he has, he won't hesitate to make a change if one is needed.
Pelicans Sign Lazar Hayward
One of the only NBA teams still carrying just 15 players, the Pelicans have added at least one more name to their training camp roster. Jim Eichenhofer of Pelicans.com reports (via Twitter) that Lazar Hayward will participate in camp with the club.
Hayward, 26, was a first-round draft pick in 2010, but has yet to make a real impact in his limited NBA action. In 72 total games for the Timberwolves and Thunder, the 6'6" swingman has averaged 2.9 PPG and a 9.0 PER.
The Pelicans may not be done adding players to their camp roster, since they still have four available spots on the roster. At the moment, the team has 13 players on guaranteed contracts, plus Lance Thomas on a partially guaranteed deal, and Hayward and Arinze Onuaku on non-guaranteed pacts.
Spurs Add Three To Camp Roster
The Spurs have finalized their roster for training camp, and there are three names on the list which hadn't previously been reported. According to Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News (via Twitter), Marcus Cousin, Courtney Fells, and Daniel Nwaelele will be with the club in camp.
Cousin, 26, went undrafted in 2009 and has played for multiple D-League and international teams since then, as well as appearing in four games for the Jazz in 2011. The 6'11" big man was the leading scorer for Japan's Kyoto Hannaryz last season, averaging 14.5 PPG and 9.7 RPG in 57 contests.
Fells played his college ball in 2009 and, like Cousin, has bounced around since then. He played in Israel with Hapoel Jerusalem last season, and earned a spot on the Celtics' Summer League squad in July. As for Nwaelele, he was reportedly offered a contract by the Spurs back in 2007, but was still committed to service in the Air Force. The 6'5" guard finished his five-year commitment to the Air Force last year and joined the D-League's Santa Cruz Warriors for the 2012/13 season.
Blazers Pick Up Lillard, Robinson, Leonard Options
The Trail Blazers have exercised their third-year options on three players, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). The 2014/15 salaries for Damian Lillard, Thomas Robinson, and Meyers Leonard are now guaranteed, according to Wojnarowski.
Options decisions for second- and third-year players are due by the end of October, and some of those decisions will be easier than others. When Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors examined the upcoming rookie-scale options, he classified Lillard's as a "no-brainer," while Robinson's and Leonard's were both considered very likely to be picked up as well.
As the fifth overall pick in 2012's draft, Robinson will be in line for a 2014/15 salary of $3.68MM, while Lillard (No. 6) will earn $3.34MM and Leonard (No. 11) will earn $2.32MM. Assuming none of those players are traded or released within the next year, the Blazers will face another round of decisions next fall on each player's fourth-year option for 2015/16.