Celtics, Grizzlies Swap Fab Melo, Donte Greene
The Celtics have acquired Donte Greene from the Grizzlies in exchange for Fab Melo and cash considerations, the C's announced today in a press release. Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal first reported that the two sides were working on a deal involving Greene and Melo.
Melo, the 22nd overall pick in last year's draft, only appeared in six NBA games for the Celtics in 2012/13. The Syracuse product spent most of the season with Boston's D-League affiliate, averaging 9.8 PPG and 6.0 RPG in 33 contests for the Maine Red Claws. While he's considered a young big man with raw potential, he's also viewed as a long-term project, and given his lack of significant progress in his rookie season, it seems the Celtics didn't want to wait on him.
By moving Melo's guaranteed rookie-scale contract in exchange for Greene's non-guaranteed minimum salary deal, the Celtics immediately reduce team salary by about $300K, and could shave another $1MM or so off by releasing Greene. Considering Boston was above the tax line by about $780K before the deal, those savings could be crucial.
The Grizzlies should create a trade exception worth Greene's salary ($1,027,424) in the transaction by absorbing Melo using the rest of their Marreese Speights TPE. For Boston, Greene can't be absorbed using the minimum salary exception since he's on a three-year deal, so the C's create a small TPE worth the difference between Melo's salary and Greene's ($283,816).
Both the Grizzlies and Celtics now have 14 guaranteed contracts on their respective rosters. The Grizz will likely add a 15th when they officially announce the signing of Nick Calathes.
Lakers Sign Elias Harris
AUGUST 14TH: The Lakers have officially signed Harris, the team announced today.
JULY 26TH: The Lakers and power forward Elias Harris have agreed to a two-year deal, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Agent Brad Ames tells Wojnarowski that the agreement includes a "significant" guarantee for this coming season.
The 24-year-old Harris was a member of the Lakers summer league squad this month in Las Vegas, and he averaged 10.2 points and 5.6 rebounds in 26.9 minutes per contest. He went undrafted last month out of Gonzaga, where he shared the front line with 13th overall pick Kelly Olynyk, now with the Celtics.
Harris' contract will have to be for the minimum, though it's not clear just how "significant" his guarantee is. The word "substantial" was used to describe the guarantee for Robert Covington's deal with the Rockets earlier this summer, and it appears $150K of Covington's $490,180 salary this year is guaranteed.
Mark Madsen, one of the coaches on the Lakers summer league team, was particularly struck by Harris' defensive versatility, as he told Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times.
Sixers Hire Brett Brown As Head Coach
WEDNESDAY, 2:34pm: The Sixers introduced Brown at a press conference this afternoon, and have officially sent out a press release announcing that the former Spurs assistant is Philadelphia's new head coach. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer has a few details and quotes from today's presser.
MONDAY, 9:21am: The NBA's longest head coaching search of the year has finally come to an end, nearly four months after the team parted ways with Doug Collins. The Sixers have reached an agreement with Spurs assistant Brett Brown that will make him Philadelphia's new head coach, reports Ian Thomsen of SI.com. According to Thomsen (via Twitter), the two sides agreed on a four-year deal that will be fully guaranteed.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first reported last week that the 76ers had offered their head coaching job to Brown, but it wasn't immediately clear whether or not he'd accept. According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein, people close to Brown were advising him to pass on the position, since the Sixers are in full-fledged rebuilding mode and don't figure to contend for the next couple seasons. With a guaranteed four-year deal in hand though, Brown has some long-term security, and shouldn't be in danger of being replaced before he sees the rebuilding process through.
Brown was one of about 10 different candidates linked to the Sixers' coaching opening since Collins left in April. As Alex Lee of Hoops Rumors wrote last week in his primer on the team's coaching search, Brown has long been considered one of the frontrunners for the position, with a report back on draft night indicating that he was Philadelphia's choice.
The Spurs have now lost two assistant coaches to the head coaching ranks this summer. After Mike Budenholzer was hired by the Hawks, Brown was positioned to be Gregg Popovich's lead assistant if he had returned to San Antonio.
Wolves, Nikola Pekovic Agree To Five-Year Deal
The Timberwolves and Nikola Pekovic have reached an agreement on a new contract, according to team president Flip Saunders (via Twitter). While Saunders didn't reveal the terms of the deal, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports (via Twitter) that it will be a five-year pact worth $60MM. According to Stein (Twitter link), Pekovic will also have the opportunity to earn about $8MM more in incentive-related bonuses.
Pekovic had been the last major free agent on the market, and had long been expected to eventually reach an agreement with the T-Wolves. The team reportedly offered him a four-year, $48MM deal several weeks ago, so it looks like Pekovic and agent Jeff Schwartz convinced Minnesota to agree to an additional year at the same annual salary. As Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets, it's a compromise both sides can live with, since Pekovic wanted a fifth year, while the Wolves didn't want to exceed $12MM per season.
Pekovic, 27, had a breakout year for the Wolves in 2012/13, averaging 16.3 PPG, 8.8 RPG, and a 20.2 PER while playing a career-high 31.6 minutes per game. Teams like the Trail Blazers, Cavaliers, and others were expected to show interest in him this offseason, but it doesn't appear that any rival suitor made a legit run at the big man — any teams with interest likely expected the Wolves to match any reasonable offer.
Depending on the salary in the first year of Pekovic's deal, the Wolves figure to head into 2013/14 with somewhere in the neighborhood of $65MM+ on their books, well below the tax line. The club will also still have its designated player tag available for Ricky Rubio, since that rule only applies to five-year contracts for players coming off rookie-scale contracts. Pekovic wasn't a first-round draft pick, and therefore wasn't subject to the NBA's rookie scale.
According to Wolfson (via Twitter), all five years of Pekovic's contract will be guaranteed. Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune tweets that Pekovic will fly to Minnesota tomorrow, with a press conference to officially announce the new deal scheduled for Friday.
International Notes: Brown, Honeycutt, Arroyo
Today's round of international notes includes the latest news and rumors on a Knicks target, a 2011 second-rounder, and a longtime NBA veteran. Let's dive in….
- Bobby Brown, who was linked to the Knicks several times this summer, reached a tentative agreement with China's Dongguan Leopards two weeks ago, but had an out if he found an NBA deal he liked before August 15th. After New York landed Beno Udrih, the team didn't really have a spot for Brown, so it looks like he'll head to China after all. He posted a photo today on Instagram that shows him officially signing his contract with the Leopards.
- Former King Tyler Honeycutt has agreed to sign with Israel's Ironi Nes-Ziona, according to Sportando contributor David Pick. After being selected 35th overall by Sacramento in the 2011 draft, Honeycutt appeared in 24 NBA games over two seasons, then was dealt to Houston in Ferbruary along with Thomas Robinson and Francisco Garcia. The Rockets waived Honeycutt shortly thereafter.
- Veteran guard Carlos Arroyo tells Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld (Twitter link) that he has received NBA offers, but loves playing in Turkey, in part because he has a larger role there than he would an NBA team.
Wizards Sign Al Harrington
The Wizards have officially signed Al Harrington to a contract, the team announced today (Twitter link). ESPN.com's Marc Stein was the first to report earlier this week that the two sides were nearing an agreement, not long after Harrington was released by Orlando.
Harrington, 33, missed nearly all of the 2012/13 season due to a staph infection, but has worked hard to get back into playing shape for the coming year, as he told Sam Amick of USA Today last month. Harrington is just one year removed from a productive season in Denver, in which he averaged 14.2 PPG and 6.1 RPG in 64 contests.
After having used their full mid-level exception on Martell Webster and their full bi-annual exception on Eric Maynor, the Wizards could only offer Harrington a minimum-salary contract, which is what he'll receive. Michael Lee of the Washington Post noted yesterday that it would be a one-year deal, so Harrington will earn about $1.4MM, though Washington will only be on the hook for about $884K of that amount. The 15-year veteran is also still owed $7MM+ from the Magic for the next two seasons.
The Wizards had 14 players on guaranteed contracts prior to adding Harrington, so it looks like the team's 15-man roster is set, though a few players could receive non-guaranteed camp invites.
Sixers Release Justin Holiday
The Sixers parted ways with one Holiday in a draft-night deal, sending Jrue Holiday to the Pelicans in exchange for Nerlens Noel and a 2014 draft pick. Now, the 76ers have cut ties with Jrue's brother, Justin Holiday. According to RealGM's transactions log and Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld (via Twitter), Philadelphia has released the elder Holiday.
Holiday, 24, appeared in just nine games for the Sixers after being signed by the team late last season. Prior to signing with Philadelphia, Holiday spent time in training camp with the Cavaliers and Trail Blazers, then joined Portland's D-League affiliate, the Idaho Stampede, for most of the year. The University of Washington product averaged 17.3 PPG in 47 D-League contests.
Per Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com, Holiday's 2013/14 salary wasn't set to become fully guaranteed until January 2014, but he would have been owed a guaranteed $50K had he remained on the roster past August 15th. By waiving him before then, the Sixers avoided taking a cap hit for any part of his salary.
Removing Holiday's minimum salary from their books also takes the Sixers even further below the salary cap line, and the minimum payroll threshold. As I noted last week, Philadelphia will have to add plenty of additional salary to the books for 2013/14 if they intend to reach the league's salary floor.
Lakers Invite Nick Minnerath To Camp
According to his own Twitter account, the Lakers have extended a training camp invite to Nick Minnerath. He played for the Kings during the Las Vegas Summer League, and as a senior for the University of Detroit Titans last season he averaged 14.6 PPG and 5.9 RPG.
The undrafted 6'9" forward can bang inside, but what makes him attractive to the Lakers is most likely his ability to shoot. Through three years of college basketball, Minnerath shot 39.7% from beyond the arc, which, on paper, qualifies him as a perfect fit for Mike D'Antoni's offense.
Kim English To Sign With Montepaschi Siena
According to HoopsHype.com, free agent guard Kim English has agreed to sign with Montepaschi Siena of the Euroleague. The Italian club has won its league title seven years in a row, and is one of the better teams in all of Europe.
The 24-year-old English spent his lone NBA season last year with the Pistons, where he averaged 2.9 PPG in 41 games. He was selected with the 44th overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. His contract with Montepaschi Siena will include an NBA out clause until August 22nd.
Heat Invite Eric Griffin To Training Camp
Unrestricted free agent Eric Griffin has signed a training camp deal with the Heat, according to RealGM.com. RealGM's transactions log lists the contract as having been finalized last Friday. As a training-camp invitee, Griffin won't have a guaranteed contract, and figures to be cut before opening night unless he wins a battle for a 15-man roster spot.
Griffin, 23, went undrafted out of Campbell in 2012, after averaging 15.7 PPG and 8.6 RPG in his senior year in college. The 6'8" forward spent last season in Italy, averaging 17.5 PPG and 7.1 RPG in 28 contests for Fileni BPA Jesi, before earning a spot on the Heat's Summer League team last month.