Nets Sign Alan Anderson
JULY 30TH, 3:39pm: The Nets have officially signed Anderson, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 26TH, 6:05pm: The deal is for the minimum salary, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
11:48am: The Nets and Alan Anderson have reached an agreement on a two-year contract, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Brooklyn has already committed its mini mid-level exception to Andrei Kirilenko, so Anderson figures to receive a minimum-salary contract. The second year will be a player option, according to HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Anderson, 30, is the latest addition to a Nets roster that has undergone a significant overhaul this offseason. So far this offseason, the team has added Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry, Kirilenko, Shaun Livingston, Mason Plumlee, and now Anderson to a core that already included Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez, Andray Blatche, and others.
In 65 games last season for the Raptors, Anderson scored a career-high 10.7 PPG, albeit with a shooting percentage of just 38.3%. The swingman also shot 33.3% on three-pointers and recorded a career-high 12.6 PER. When I spoke to Anderson in April, he expressed a desire to return to the Raptors, but it appears the club's new decision-makers didn't have a whole lot of interest in bringing him back.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports initially reported (via Twitter) that Anderson was in the process of finalizing an agreement to join the Nets, after reporting the team's interest earlier in the month.
Bucks Sign Giannis Antetokounmpo
JULY 30TH: Antetokounmpo has officially signed his deal with the Bucks, as agent Giorgos Dimitropoulos tweets.
JULY 27TH: Giannis Antetokounmpo, whom the Bucks drafted 15th overall in this year's draft, is headed to Milwaukee and will sign his rookie-scale contract soon, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times. The Athens native, dubbed the "Greek Freak," is in line for a first-year salary of nearly $1.8MM, as our salary chart for first-rounders shows, providing he signs for the standard 120% of his scale amount.
It seemed clear soon after the draft that the Bucks had no intention of stashing the raw, 18-year-old small forward overseas, so perhaps the monthlong holdup in signing his deal has been related to Milwaukee GM John Hammond's desire to maintain flexibility in the free agent market. The Bucks have been active in the past few days, signing Miroslav Raduljica and agreeing to a contract with Gary Neal, so it seems they're ready to use their ample cap room.
Antetokounmpo spent last season with a second-division club in Greece, so NBA competition will be a significant step up. He figures to be assigned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Milwaukee's D-League affiliate, though with five other NBA clubs sharing the Mad Ants, finding enough playing time could prove a challenge.
Erick Green To Sign With Italian Team
Nuggets second-round pick Erick Green has agreed to terms on a deal with Italy's Mens Sana Siena, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Confirming the agreement, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets that it will be a one-year contract for this year's 46th overall pick.
Green, 22, was the leading scorer among Division I players in the 2012/13 season, pouring in 25.0 PPG as a senior for Virginia Tech. The 6'3" combo guard also threw in 3.8 APG and 4.0 RPG to go along with a shooting line of .475/.389/.816. He was selected on draft night by a pick that initially belonged to Utah. The Nuggets acquired the 46th overall pick and cash from the Jazz in exchange for the 27th pick, which was used on Rudy Gobert.
The Nuggets will retain the rights to Green, but his deal with Siena means Denver won't carry a cap hold for his salary in 2013/14. The Nuggets should have another opportunity to sign him next summer, if they so choose.
For the latest news on contracts for all 60 of this year's draftees, be sure to check out our complete list, which continues to be updated.
Bobcats Re-Sign Gerald Henderson
JULY 30TH, 11:01am: The Bobcats have officially re-signed Henderson, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 26TH, 8:04pm: Henderson and the Bobcats have reached an agreement, tweets Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.
7:27pm: The Bobcats and restricted free agent Gerald Henderson are putting the finishing touches on a new three-year, $18MM deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The swingman and agent Arn Tellem turned down Charlotte's offer of $7MM per year to get the team to agree to a third-year player option, according to Wojnarowski.
The two sides are expected to formalize the deal early next week, Wojnarowski adds. The move has appeared likely over the past couple of weeks, though Henderson reportedly drew "heavy interest" from the Wolves before they acquired Kevin Martin. Negotiations between Henderson's camp and the Bobcats seemed to stall a couple of weeks ago, with the sides far apart on financial terms. While Wojnarowski reported then that the Bobcats were seeking sign-and-trade scenarios that would send Henderson elsewhere, his story today identifies the 25-year-old as the franchise's top priority.
Henderson was reportedly seeking a salary of about $8MM a year, but it looks like he'll settle for about $2MM less. The move will leave the Bobcats with less than $1MM worth of cap space, unless they backload Henderson's contract. Charlotte committed its room exception to Josh McRoberts, so re-signing Henderson is probably the club's final major offseason move.
The former 12th overall pick averaged 15.5 points per game last season, up only slightly from his 15.1 PPG in 2011/12. The career 27.2% three-point shooter showed improvement from behind the arc, nailing 33% of his three-point looks in 2012/13, and his 16.4 PER was also a career high by a wide margin.
Pelicans Sign Jeff Withey
The Pelicans have officially signed rookie big man Jeff Withey to a contract, the team announced today in a press release. Since Withey was a second-round pick, he won't receive a standard rookie-scale deal, so terms of the agreement aren't yet known.
Withey, 23, was selected 39th overall in last month's draft by the Trail Blazers. A couple weeks later, he was shipped to New Orleans in the three-team deal that saw the Pelicans also acquire Tyreke Evans while sending Greivis Vasquez to Sacramento and Robin Lopez to Portland.
Withey spent four seasons at Kansas, developing from a freshman who only played 45 total minutes into a senior who averaged 13.7 PPG and 8.5 RPG in 2012/13. With Lopez having been dealt to the Trail Blazers, Withey may earn some playing time in his rookie year. Withey, Greg Stiemsma, and Jason Smith represent the Pelicans' best options at center, unless the team is willing to have Anthony Davis spend time at the five.
Mavs Sign Shane Larkin
The Mavericks announced via press release that they have signed 18th overall pick Shane Larkin. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Mavs acquired the draft rights to the Miami point guard from the Hawks in exchange for Jared Cunningham, the draft rights to No. 44 overall pick Mike Muscala and the draft rights to No. 16 pick Lucas "Bebe" Nogueira. Noguiera, meanwhile, came to the Mavs with two 2014 second rounders from the C's in exchange for the draft rights to No. 13 pick Kelly Olynyk.
Larkin led the Hurricanes to the ACC regular season and postseason championships last season en route to being named the ACC Player of the Year, ACC Tournament MVP, Lute Olsen National Player of the Year, and Second Team All-American by Associated Press. The sophomore averaged 14.5 points, 4.6 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.0 steals in 36 games.
Larkin did not participate with the Mavericks at the Las Vegas Summer League after sustaining an injury to his right ankle in practice. Larkin underwent ankle surgery on July 16th, putting him in line for a comeback right around the start of the regular season.
Jazz Sign Ian Clark
JULY 29TH: The Jazz have officially signed Clark, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 24TH: The Jazz have agreed to sign Las Vegas Summer League title game MVP Ian Clark, agent Bill Duffy tells USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt (Twitter link). It's a two-year deal with a team option on the final season. Zillgitt reported yesterday that the Jazz, as well as the Warriors and Trail Blazers, had their eye on Clark after his 33-point performance for Golden State in Monday's Vegas summer league championship game.
Clark averaged 12.4 points on 48.5% shooting from behind the arc for the Warriors in Las Vegas, while putting up 16.4 PPG and 42.9% three-point shooting for the Heat's team in the Orlando Summer League. The Heat wanted to have him on their Vegas team, too, but the Warriors scooped him up, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Twitter link).
The accuracy was no fluke for the 6'3" shooting guard, who knocked down 42.6% of his three-point attempts in four years at Belmont. Still, he went undrafted, and he used the summer leagues to boost his stock. Clark probably won't earn much more than the minimum, but the Jazz still have some cap space available, so perhaps they simply outbid his other suitors.
Rockets Sign Marcus Camby
MONDAY, 12:50pm: The Rockets have officially signed Camby, the team announced today in a press release.
SUNDAY, 12:23pm: Camby will sign for one year at the minimum salary, reports Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link).
11:59am: The Rockets will sign Marcus Camby today, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston reported just moments earlier that the move was expected to take place (Twitter link). Camby already passed a physical with Rockets team doctors, and agent Rick Kaplan recently told Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle that the Rockets were at the top of Camby's list of suitors.
Camby, a resident of nearby Pearland, Texas, had a desire to play at home and with a contender, Feigen tweets, giving the Rockets the edge over the Bulls and Heat, the other leading candidates for the 39-year-old. The Bulls appear to be the first runner-up, as talks between Camby and Chicago were reportedly going "extremely well" on Friday. The Heat's interest appeared to be on the wane.
The 17-year veteran will probably receive a minimum-salary deal, though the capped-out Rockets have their full $2.652MM room exception available. Camby has had one prior stint with the Rockets, who acquired him at the trade deadline in 2012 before participating in a sign-and-trade last summer with the Knicks. Camby inked a three-year, $13.151MM contract to go to New York, but injuries kept him from living up to it, limiting him to just 42 points in 24 games this past season.
The Knicks shipped him to the Raptors in the Andrea Bargnani trade this month, and Toronto accepted Camby's request that they buy him out. The Raptors reportedly recouped $2MM of the guaranteed portion of Camby's deal.
Hawks Claim Gustavo Ayon
MONDAY, 9:10am: The Hawks have confirmed the move in a press release.
SUNDAY, 7:02pm: The Hawks have claimed Gustavo Ayon off of waivers, a league source tells Shams Charania of RealGM. Ayon tipped the signing earlier in the afternoon, writing "Go Atlanta Hawks" on his Facebook page earlier in the afternoon.
The Bucks released Ayon on Thursday due to their glut in the frontcourt, but the 6'10" big man received heavy interest due to his inside presence and affordable $1.5MM contract. Ayon is expected to get a fair trial to earn a spot in a Hawks rotation that has lacked a young, developing center alongside Al Horford, Charania writes. The 28-year-old has averaged 4.8 PPG and 4.3 RPG in two NBA seasons for three different clubs.
Pacers Acquire Luis Scola From Suns
2:31pm: The Suns have also confirmed that the trade is official, via their website.
2:06pm: The Pacers have announced the trade in a press release.
"I’m very, very excited to play for the Pacers," Scola said, as part of the Pacers statement. "They are one of the top three teams in the NBA with a good shot to win a championship. I think it’s a great team and this is a great opportunity. I can’t wait."
1:39pm: The Pacers and Suns have reached an agreement on a trade that sends Luis Scola to Indiana, tweets USA Today's Sam Amick. Paul Coro notes that the framework of the deal, reported earlier by Amick and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, will send Gerald Green, Miles Plumlee and Indiana's lottery-protected 2014 first-round draft pick to Phoenix in exchange for Scola (Twitter link).
The move strengthens the Pacers as they attempt to overcome the Heat, who've knocked them out of the playoffs the past two seasons. Scola will be of particular help on the offensive end, where he's a career 14.2 points-per-game scorer, and he'll improve a second-unit that lagged far behind Indiana's starting lineup last season. The Suns claimed him off amnesty waivers from the Rockets last summer, and the inexpensive bid helped faciliate the deal with Indiana. Scola will make more than $4.5MM this year, with a non-guaranteed $4.868MM in 2014/15.
Suns GM Ryan McDonough reunites with Green, whom the Celtics drafted 18th overall in 2005, when McDonough was beginning to work his way up Boston's front office chain of command. Green will make $3.5MM this year and next as part of a three-year contract he signed with the Pacers last summer, before he wound up buried on coach Frank Vogel's bench. Plumlee, the 26th overall pick in 2012, was even farther down the Pacers depth chart, appearing in more D-League games (15) than NBA contests (14) last season.
The jewel of the deal for Phoenix appears to be the pick, which will almost certainly be at the back end of the first round. Still, the Suns are in line for three first-rounders in next year's talent-rich draft, including their own, as SB Nation's Paul Flannery points out (Twitter link). Sending the 33-year-old Scola out will allow the team to develop more of its young talent, and perhaps shave a few wins from its total, giving the team a better chance at the top overall pick.