Roger Mason, Hornets Agree To Terms
AUGUST 4, 11:04am: In a statement released by the team, the Hornets have officially signed Roger Mason.
AUGUST 1, 3:22pm: The Hornets have agreed to terms with Roger Mason on a contract, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). When Mason finalizes his deal, New Orleans will become the 31-year-old's sixth team in his ninth NBA season.
A week ago, we heard that Mason was drawing interest from the Hornets, Thunder, Bulls, and Lakers. The Wizards, Mason's most recent team, also had interest in bringing him back, but the veteran shooter was seeking more than a one-year, minimum-salary deal. Terms of his agreement with the Hornets aren't known, but perhaps he was able to land a multiyear deal or a salary a little above the minimum from the club.
From the Hornets' perspective, Mason provides a little more backcourt depth, joining Eric Gordon, Austin Rivers, and Xavier Henry as players that figure to earn shooting guard minutes this season. Rivers and Mason will likely also see time at the point, with last year's starter Jarrett Jack having been dealt to Golden State.
Joey Dorsey To Stay In Greece
After winning the most recent Euro League title as a member of Olympiakos, Joey Dorsey's agent has told Yahoo! Sports columnist Adrian Wojnarowski that the former Raptor will re-sign with Olympiakos. As recent as mid-July, several NBA teams, including the Rockets, reportedly had interest in signing the 28-year-old big man. But he's chosen to stay in Greece.
Dorsey's played for three different teams since being drafted out of Memphis in 2008. He hasn't competed in the NBA since 2010/11, when he posted averages of 3.1PPG and 4.4RPG in only 12 MPG.
Timberwolves Sign Greg Stiemsma
2:10pm: Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune tweets that Stiemsma's deal with the Wolves includes a non-guaranteed second year. It will be worth the $2.575MM room exception, says Zgoda (Twitter link).
AUGUST 2ND, 1:35pm: Stiemsma has officially signed with the Timberwolves, according to the team's official PR Twitter feed.
JULY 24TH, 8:00am: The Celtics have withdrawn their qualifying offer to Stiemsma, making him an unrestricted free agent, according to Ray Richardson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. This clears the way for the Timberwolves to sign the big man outright.
JULY 22ND, 4:26pm: The deal is for one year and about $3MM, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.
3:59pm: The Timberwolves and Greg Stiemsma have agreed to terms on a contract, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune reports (Twitter link). The deal will be for an amount greater than the $1.957MM biannual exception the Celtics were limited to giving him, Zgoda tweets, and comes after Stiemsma's agent Mike Naiditch set today as the deadline for Minnesota to sign Stiemsma at a rate cheaper than he could get elsewhere. Stiemsma reportedly received a significant offer from another team. A report earlier in the week suggested the Wolves would offer him a deal close to $3MM a year.
Though the Celtics were said to be likely to rescind his qualifying offer as of last night, they haven't done so, meaning he's technically still a restricted free agent. Since the Celtics, who are over the cap, only have non-Bird rights on Stiemsma and can't exceed the value of the biannual exception to keep him, they'll be unable to match the Wolves' offer.
Stiemsma averaged 2.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks as a first-year minimum-salary player for the Celtics last season. He went undrafted out of Wisconsin in 2008 and played in the D-League before getting his shot in Boston.
International Moves: McCalebb, White, Roberts
We haven't been keeping up with international free agent signings this summer like we have with NBA transactions, but occasionally there are a few items of interest to pass along. Here are a few notable recent moves from overseas:
- Top international player Bo McCalebb will remain overseas rather than making the leap to the NBA anytime soon. As Emiliano Carchia of Sportando writes, Turkey's Fenerbahce Ulker announced today that they've signed the former University of New Orleans standout. The deal will be for three years, with a third-year option.
- 2010 Pistons second-round pick Terrico White has signed in Serbia with Radnicki Kragujevac, according to Carchia.
- According to various reports, Brian Roberts, who had been playing in Germany, has left his team and will receive a training camp invite from the Hornets. This move has yet to be confirmed by any Hornets beat writer or the team itself.
- Jarvis Varnado, who was selected 41st overall by the Heat in the 2010 draft, is hoping to sign with Miami this summer, and isn't considering offers overseas at the moment, says Carchia.
Knicks Sign Chris Smith
9:55pm: The deal is for two years and is partially guaranteed, reports Newsday's Al Iannazzone (Sulia link; hat tip to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com).
3:57pm: The Knicks have officially signed Smith, the team announced today in a press release.
1:43pm: The Knicks likely acquired Smith in order to assign his rights to their D-League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks, a source tells Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com.
11:49am: The Knicks have agreed to sign Chris Smith, J.R. Smith's younger brother, to a contract, according to Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com, who says the deal isn't official yet but should be finalized soon (Twitter links). Marc Berman of the New York Post tweets that the contract will earn the younger Smith an invite to training camp, though I'd imagine there's very little guaranteed money included.
Smith, 24, averaged 9.7 points per game in his senior year at Louisville and played for the Knicks' Summer League squad in Las Vegas in July. His numbers in Vegas weren't too impressive (5.2 PPG on .290/.375/.625 shooting) and he appears to be a long shot to earn a spot on the Knicks' regular season roster.
Warriors Sign Carl Landry
WEDNESDAY, 7:04pm: The team announced the signing on its website, making the move official.
MONDAY, 5:30pm: Agent Mark Bartelstein has announced that Carl Landry is set to sign with Golden State, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter). The forward will receive a two-year deal worth $8MM with a player option in the second season, Stein tweets.
Landry has been the Warriors' top target in recent weeks and was widely considered to be the top player still available on the open market. The 28-year-old averaged 12.5 PPG with 5.2 RPG per contest last season for the Hornets. The Bobcats were also in the mix for Landry and were said to be exploring a sign-and-trade for his services, but those talks didn't get very far.
Golden State is also said to be eyeing another Bartelstein client in restricted free agent Brandon Rush. However, SI's Zach Lowe notes that the Warriors will have a hard time signing both players without surpassing the luxury tax threshold.
After finishing the 2011/12 season with a 23-43 record, the Warriors have made a noticeable effort to shake things up this summer. So far, General Manager Bob Myers has added six new players to the roster in Jarrett Jack, Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli, Draymond Green, Kent Bazemore, and Landry, with more possibly on the way.
Warriors Re-Sign Brandon Rush
5:10pm: The Warriors confirmed the signing on their website. The Bucks were closer to signing him than the Wolves or Lakers, Rush said, as Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets.
WEDNESDAY, 5:05pm: Rush tweeted that he "just signed on the dotted line," presumably meaning the deal is official (hat tip to Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group).
TUESDAY, 11:56am: The Warriors and Brandon Rush have agreed to terms on a new contract for the restricted free agent, according to agent Mark Bartelstein. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com was among the handful of reporters to tweet news of the agreement.
Berger adds (via Twitter) that the deal is for two years and $8MM, with a player option on the second year. Based on the reported salaries, it sounds as if the contract is identical to the one Carl Landry and the Warriors agreed to yesterday.
The move caps a busy couple days for the Warriors, in which the team not only retained Rush and added Landry, but also agreed to sign second-round pick Draymond Green to a multiyear contract. The team is likely done making moves this offseason, with the recent signings bringing them either very close to the luxury tax threshold or slightly over it. As Matt Steinmetz of CSNBayArea.com (Twitter link) notes though, if the clubs is concerned about being a taxpayer, there will be plenty of time between now and season's end to sneak under the tax line.
The Lakers, Raptors, and Timberwolves were among the teams linked to Rush at various times this offseason. However, a return to Golden State was always expected, after GM Bob Myers emphatically stated that the Warriors intended to match any offer sheet the 27-year-old signed. Steinmetz first reported yesterday that the two sides were closing in on an agreement.
Suns Sign P.J. Tucker
AUGUST 1ST: The Suns have officially signed Tucker, the team announced today (Twitter link).
JULY 24TH: Six years ago, P.J. Tucker was selected 35th overall by the Raptors, and played 17 games with Toronto before finding himself out of the NBA. At age 27, Tucker is prepared to make a comeback. Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic reports that the forward has agreed to a two-year, minimum-salary deal with the Suns, with a partial guarantee on the first year.
Since his time with the Raptors, Tucker has played in Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Puerto Rico, Italy, and Greece. He had been under contract to play in Russia for the coming year, but utilized an NBA out clause to sign with the Suns. The $762,195 he could earn as a second-year, minimum-salary player is less than half what he would have made overseas, but Tucker is looking forward to his second chance in the NBA, as he told Coro.
"When was in Toronto, I wasn't half the player I am now," Tucker said. "First and foremost, I'm going to help the young guys and always be a positive voice in the locker room. I look at myself as a defensive player first but I can rebound and handle the ball. I just stick my neck out and play hard. I never let anyone outwork me."
For the Suns' Summer League team in Las Vegas, Tucker averaged 5.8 points and 6.2 rebounds in 21.6 minutes per game. Wendell Maxey of Ridiculous Upside takes a look at the journey that sees the 27-year-old back on an NBA roster.
Craig Brackins Signs In Italy
Italian club Angelico Biella has signed former first-round pick Craig Brackins, the team announced today (English link via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). The 21st overall pick in the 2010 joins Biella after appearing in just 17 regular season games in his two seasons with the 76ers.
Brackins, 24, was drafted by the Thunder in June 2010 and was traded to the Hornets and then to the Sixers before the 2010/11 season began. While the 6'10" forward was ineffective in limited NBA minutes, he was very productive in the D-League, averaging 19.7 points and 8.8 rebounds in 25 contests for Springfield and Maine over the last two seasons.
The Sixers did not exercise either of their team options on Brackins' rookie contract, making him an unrestricted free agent this summer after just two years in the league.
Celtics Sign Dionte Christmas
JULY 31ST: The Celtics formally announced Christmas' signing today, via a press release.
JULY 22ND: The Celtics have reached agreement on a deal with guard Dionte Christmas, a team source confirmed to Greg Payne of ESPNBoston.com. Terms of the deal are not yet known but Christmas says that the deal will be partially guaranteed.
"I actually got the call before the game started," said Christmas, who has excelled as a member of the C's summer league team. "I don't really know all the details now, but I'm going to go over them with the staff. But I'm just happy, man, emotional. I actually got the call literally two minutes before the game started."
Christmas' representatives have been discussing a potential deal with Boston all week with the guard asking for some form of a guarantee from the team. The Temple product received significant offers to return to Europe but preferred to play in the NBA this year.