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Monta Ellis To Exercise ETO, Become Free Agent

June 17th, 2013 at 10:11am CST by Luke Adams

Monta Ellis has informed the Bucks he'll exercise the early termination option on his contract, eliminating the final year of the deal, reports ESPN.com's Chris Broussard. The move means Ellis will officially become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

Ellis' decision doesn't come as a surprise, since we heard two months ago he was likely to opt out. The Bucks reportedly offered Ellis an extension that would have hinged on him declining the ETO to receive an overall three-year, $36MM commitment from the team. Considering the veteran guard apparently passed on that offer, it was only a matter of time until he officially opted out to test the open market.

The 2013/14 option on Ellis' deal would have paid him $11MM. I'm skeptical that he'll see many offers that match or exceed that annual salary. However, if he can secure a long-term deal at a slightly lesser yearly rate, the decision still makes sense — especially if he prefers to play for a team besides the Bucks.

Based on multiple reports, it appears likely that the Kings will have some level of interest in Ellis, who figures to draw attention from plenty of clubs in need of backcourt help. Broussard identifies the Hawks, Mavericks, and Lakers as other probable suitors for Ellis, though the Lakers would seem to be a long shot, given their cap situation.

Ellis becomes the second player to exercise an early termination option on his contract this offseason. Andre Iguodala opted out of his deal last week, though the other players who have ETOs for 2013/14 are unlikely to exercise them.

Kings To Hire Pete D’Alessandro As GM

June 15th, 2013 at 3:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:40pm: The Kings still want to add a consultant to the front office mix, USA Today's Sam Amick reports, adding that he doesn't think they'll hire "one of the usual suspects who was interviewed." In any case, D'Alessandro is expected to lead the front office, Amick says. (Twitter links).

2:33pm: TNT's David Aldridge and USA Today's Sam Amick have confirmed Wojnarowski's report (Twitter links). Ken Berger of CBSSports.com hears the Kings are still deciding whether to hire another front office executive to pair with D'Alessandro and says Wallace would be the leading candidate for that position. Wallace remains under contract as GM of the Grizzlies, but he's been pushed to the side under the new, analytics-driven leadership of owner Robert Pera and CEO Jason Levien.

2:09pm: The Kings and Pete D'Alessandro have reached an agreement on a deal that would make him Sacramento's new GM, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. D'Alessandro has been serving as vice president of basketball operations for the Nuggets, and was the chief assistant to former Denver GM Masai Ujiri. The Nuggets were reportedly leaning toward D'Alessandro for their GM vacancy, but it appears they'll have to move to other candidates.

The hire is somewhat of a surprise, since D'Alessandro's name wasn't one of several that were said to be in the mix as recently as two days ago. Chris Wallace, David Morway and Scott Layden appeared to be the front-runners at that point. Perhaps one of them or another executive will join D'Alessandro in the front office, since new owner Vivek Ranadive has indicated he might want to hire a tandem of someone with experience and a relatively fresh face to lead the team's basketball ops.

One possible front office partner for D'Alessandro could be Chris Mullin, the former Warriors GM under whom D'Alessandro served from 2004 to 2008. Mullin's name came up in connection with the Kings job via multiple reports.

Marvin Williams Declines Early Termination Option

June 14th, 2013 at 11:48am CST by Luke Adams

Marvin Williams has declined his early termination option and will remain under contract with the Jazz for the 2013/14 season, a source tells Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com. Declining an ETO shouldn't be confused with declining a player option — in this case, Williams has decided not to terminate his contract early, meaning he won't hit free agency this offseason.

Williams, a former second overall pick, established career-lows in MPG (23.7), PPG (7.2), and PER (10.9) in his first season with the Jazz. As such, it wouldn't have been surprising to see him opt for his $7.5MM salary in 2013/14, even if he were healthy. Considering Williams is also recovering from Achilles surgery that's expected to keep him out of action for several months, his decision comes as even less of a shock.

With Williams now officially on the books for next season, the Jazz have six players on guaranteed contracts for a total of $25.33MM. That leaves plenty of room for the team to explore ways to improve the roster, whether that means making trades, signing outside free agents, or bringing back its own free agents like Paul Millsap and/or Al Jefferson.

Brandon Rush Exercises Player Option

June 14th, 2013 at 10:47am CST by Luke Adams

Brandon Rush has officially exercised his 2013/14 player option to remain with the Warriors, agent Mark Bartelstein confirms to Hoops Rumors. According to RealGM.com's transactions log, Rush made the decision official earlier this week.

Rush's 2012/13 season came to a premature end when the 27-year-old tore his ACL during the season's opening week. While a successful year in Golden State may have resulted in Rush opting out this summer, it's no surprise that he'd elect the security of another year at $4MM coming off such a serious injury.

In his last full season ('11/12), Rush posted career-highs in PPG (9.8), FG% (.501), PER (15.2), and a handful of other categories. Assuming he's healthy by the fall, Rush will give Golden State another deadly outside shooter to go along with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson — for his career, the Kansas product has shot 41.3% from three-point range.

As I wrote when I previewed the Warriors' offseason, Rush's decision to opt in means that the team will have $69MM+ committed to 10 players for next season. That will make it tricky for the club to bring back free agents such as Jarrett Jack or Carl Landry without going well into tax territory.

Nets Hire Jason Kidd

June 13th, 2013 at 7:55am CST by Michael Pina

Jason Kidd will serve as head coach of the Nets next season, according to Yahoo! NBA columnist Adrian Wojnarowski. The story was first reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer's John Mitchell and the hiring was confirmed by the Nets in a Wednesday night press release. Kidd will be introduced to the media in a Thursday press conference.

After much speculation about who would take over for interim lead man P.J. Carlesimo, culminating with a climactic five-hour interview on Wednesday with Pacers assistant coach Brian Shaw, it appears the job will go to Kidd, a future Hall of Fame point guard who spent last season playing for the Knicks.

Kidd's contract will be guaranteed for three years and might include an option on the fourth year. He's currently targeting Lawrence Frank and Tim Grgurich as his top assistants. Kidd has no coaching experience, but the Nets believe the blueprint set by Warriors head coach Mark Jackson, also a successful player who took that job with no experience and led his team to the second round of the playoffs this season, bodes well.

Kidd, a ten-time All-Star, spent six seasons with the Nets and most notably led them to the NBA Finals twice in a row after a lengthy playoff drought. While the Nets were runners-up to the Lakers and Spurs, Kidd finally won a title with the Mavericks in 2011.

It will be interesting to watch how Kidd does for a number of reasons, but the most compelling aspect will be to see how he deals with player discord, given his reputation as a coach killer. Of course, star point guard Deron Williams has been given the same tag by many observers, though he has denied having a hand in Jerry Sloan's retirement in Utah and expressed surprise and disappointment after Avery Johnson was fired in Brooklyn.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Jeremy Pargo Signs With CSKA Moscow

June 11th, 2013 at 9:56am CST by Luke Adams

9:56am: Pargo's deal with CSKA Moscow is actually worth $5.2MM in total, for two years, agent Brad Ames tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). For a player whose largest NBA contract was a two-year, $2MM pact, that's a pretty strong incentive to head overseas.

TUESDAY, 8:13am: CSKA Moscow has officially announced Pargo's signing, as passed along in English by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.

FRIDAY, 2:04pm: Pargo's deal with CSKA Moscow will be a two-year pact that he intends to play out, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.com. The wording of Charania's tweet suggests Pargo will earn $2.2MM in total, rather than annually, which would make more sense.

10:00am: After having been released by both the Cavaliers and 76ers during the 2012/13 season, Jeremy Pargo appears to be lining up a deal to play overseas. According to Emiliano Carchia and David Pick of Sportando, Pargo has agreed to terms with CSKA Moscow. Pick tweets that the deal would pay the point guard $2.2MM, which almost certainly exceeds any salary he'd land in the NBA.

Pargo, the younger brother of Jannero Pargo, appeared in a total of 39 games for the Cavs and Sixers in '12/13, averaging 6.8 PPG and 2.4 APG in 16.8 minutes per contest. His most successful stretch of the season came when he was subbing in for the injured Kyrie Irving in Cleveland, recording double-digit points in seven games — that run included a 28-point performance against the Sixers, the team he'd join a few weeks later. The 27-year-old is also no stranger to international ball, having previously played for two Israeli teams from 2009 to 2011.

Assuming the deal is finalized, Pargo will be far from the first player to make the jump from the NBA to CSKA Moscow. Past and present NBA veterans such as Andrei Kirilenko, Alexey Shved, Sonny Weems, and Nenad Krstic have played for the European powerhouse in just the last couple years.

Grizzlies Part Ways With Lionel Hollins

June 10th, 2013 at 7:00pm CST by Luke Adams

7:00pm: The Grizzlies have confirmed in a press release that Hollins won't receive a new contract and that the team will begin searching for a new head coach.

"After a thorough internal process, which included conversations with Lionel and his representatives, we decided as an organization to move in a different direction," said CEO Jason Levien in a statement.

5:38pm: Lionel Hollins is out as the Grizzlies' head coach, according to Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, who reports (via Twitter) that the team won't extend Hollins' contract.

With Hollins' contract set to expire at the end of June and an oft-mentioned "difference in philosophies" between the head coach and Memphis' new management, the team was expected to make a change this offseason. However, Hollins has repeatedly expressed a desire to return to the Grizzlies, and the two sides had been discussing the possibility of a new contract.

With Hollins now officially on the market, he becomes a more viable potential candidate for other teams searching for a head coach, such as the Clippers, Nets, and Nuggets. As for the Grizzlies, they reportedly have interest in former Nuggets coach George Karl, and could also promote assistant Dave Joerger to the head coaching role.

Nuggets Part Ways With George Karl

June 6th, 2013 at 6:10pm CST by Luke Adams

6:10pm: Karl's agent, Warren Legarie, offered his thoughts to ESPN about the Nuggets' decision:

"This was not the ideal situation, obviously George would've preferred to stay on. But I can't praise Josh Kroenke enough for the way in which he handled a really difficult situation. [Kroenke] was always straightforward and honest & very clear about what they were prepared and not prepared to do" (All Twitter links via Ramona Shelburne).

10:11am: 2012/13's NBA Coach of the Year will not return to his team's bench next season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Wojnarowski reports that the Nuggets have parted ways with George Karl, informing him this morning that he won't be retained for the final year of his contract (Twitter links).

Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com had both reported within the last week that Karl's status in Denver was unsettled, since the team didn't seem inclined to pick up his 2014/15 option, which would have left him on an expiring deal next season. According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Karl had been pushing for a contract extension, and team ownership wasn't prepared to give him one.

The move is the latest in an incredibly busy offseason for head coaching turnover. 11 NBA teams have now parted ways with the head coach with whom they finished the season, and there could be more changes on the way, including Lionel Hollins in Memphis. Karl had been the third-longest-tenured coach in the NBA, behind only Gregg Popovich and Doc Rivers.

With Karl out of the picture and Masai Ujiri now running the Raptors, the Nuggets will be in the market for both a new coach and general manager in the coming weeks. Wojnarowski tweets that the Nuggets believe they can attract an elite coach, given their roster, and that they preferred to take that chance rather than moving forward with an unhappy Karl.

As for Karl, Chris Mannix of SI.com rightly points out (via Twitter) that his presence on the market figures to change the thinking of some teams still searching for a new head coach. Based on the fact that he had been seeking an extension with the Nuggets, it appears Karl still wants to keep coaching. We've already heard his name linked to the Clippers' search and Grantland's Zach Lowe (Twitter link) wouldn't be surprised if the Sixers called him as well. ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports (via Twitter) that the Grizzlies also intend to reach out to Karl.

Still, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer cautions (via Twitter) not to rule out the possibility of Karl sitting out the season or coaching overseas, given how much he enjoyed his previous experience in Europe. Personally, I'd think the former is more likely than the latter.

Richard Jefferson Exercises Player Option

June 5th, 2013 at 9:15am CST by Luke Adams

JUNE 5TH: Jefferson has officially exercised his 2013/14 option, according to RealGM's transactions log. Although we've heard plenty of reports on players who will pick up or turn down options, Jefferson becomes just the fourth player to make his decision official so far this offseason. Aaron Gray, Linas Kleiza, and Charlie Villanueva have also exercised their respective player options.

MAY 29TH: Richard Jefferson will exercise his player option for 2013/14, opting into the final year of his contract, reports Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com. The decision, which comes as no surprise, comes about a month in advance of the June 30th deadline, with agent Todd Eley of Stratosphere Sports suggesting it may already be official.

"Richard has exercised his option to include the 2013/14 season in his current contract," according to Eley.

The option will pay Jefferson $11,046,000 next season, which is an exponentially higher annual salary than he'd find on the open market. The veteran forward is coming off the worst season of his 12-year NBA career, having averaged just 3.1 PPG, 1.5 RPG, and a 10.3 PER in 10.1 minutes per game. All of those marks were career-lows for the 32-year-old.

With Jefferson and Andris Biedrins both under contract for 2013/14, the Warriors will be paying more than $20MM to a duo that didn't play or produce much last season. Neither player is eligible to be amnestied, but both deals will be expiring, and will come off the club's books in the summer of '14.

Raptors Dismiss Ed Stefanski

June 2nd, 2013 at 9:04am CST by Chuck Myron

The Raptors have dismissed Ed Stefanski, the team's executive vice president of basketball operations, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Stefanski had a year remaining on his contract, and figures to be a hot commodity on the front office market, Wojnarowski tweets. The move appears to be the first major decision for GM Masai Ujiri, whom the team hired Friday.

Stefanski has served as the primary basketball decision maker for the Nets, from June 2004 to December 2007, and Sixers, from December 2007 to August 2010. He joined the Raptors in October 2011, during the lockout. HoopsWorld's Stephen Brotherston argued earlier this spring that Stefanski should receive a larger role within Toronto's front office, and while that's not going to happen, it appears he'll be in demand around the league. The Nuggets have an open GM position with Ujiri's departure, and the Kings look like they want to replace Geoff Petrie. The Grizzlies could have an opening, too, if they part ways with GM Chris Wallace.

Former Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo remains with the team in a business role, though he may retain some input on the basketball side, as he explained last month to Hoops Rumors. With Colangelo, Ujiri's former boss, still around, the new GM may have pushed for Stefanski's exit in an effort to limit the number of voices within the front office, though that's just my speculation. Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun figured a front-office shakeup was coming in the wake of Ujiri's hiring.

Ujiri must decide on the fate of coach Dwane Casey, but it appears Casey will return.