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Jazz Sign Eric Atkins

October 25th, 2015 at 6:01pm CST by Will Joseph

The Jazz signed free agent point guard Eric Atkins, the team announced. The move is considered to be for the D-League roster, Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune tweets.

Earlier on Sunday, the Jazz claimed Phil Pressey off waivers. The Jazz currently have 17 players on the roster. The allowed maximum by opening night is 15. Falk tweets that both point guards could provide insurance for the Jazz because the team currently has only two healthy point guards.

Atkins spent the 2014/15 season with KAOD BC of Greece. He appeared in 26 games (19 starts) and averaged 7.0 points per game, 2.2 rebounds per game and 2.9 assists per game. Atkins played overseas after spending the previous four years at Notre Dame. In his senior season, Atkins averaged 13.9 poins per game to go along with 4.9 assists per game.

Jazz Claim Phil Pressey Off Waivers

October 25th, 2015 at 5:35pm CST by Will Joseph

5:35pm: The team announced the move.

4:16pm: The Jazz have claimed Phil Pressey off waivers after the point guard was waived by the Blazers, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reports (on Twitter).

Pressey’s deal with the Blazers was non-guaranteed. Pressey, 24, who signed with Portland shortly after the Celtics waived him this summer, averaged 4.8 points, 2.0 assists and 1.0 turnover in 16.4 minutes per game across four preseason appearances.

Pressey has been viewed by many as a natural point guard with good passing instincts, but he is not considered a good shooter. The Jazz currently have 15 players on the roster, the allowed maximum by opening night. Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune tweets that it seems like the move is to secure Pressey’s D-League rights.

Magic Pick Up Options On Napier, Three Others

October 25th, 2015 at 1:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

SUNDAY, 1:58pm: The team announced it has exercised the options on each of the players, Robbins tweets.

TUESDAY, 11:24am: Shabazz Napier‘s strong preseason performance has won over the Magic, who plan to pick up their $1,350,120 team option for 2016/17 on his rookie scale contract, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The team is also planning to exercise its rookie scale options on Aaron Gordon, Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton, according to Robbins, but unlike those three, the team wasn’t quite convinced about the option for Napier heading into camp, Robbins indicates.

The deadline for all four options is Monday, November 2nd, and Orlando is expected to make the moves official soon after its last preseason game on Friday, Robbins writes. The options add up to precisely $14.868MM, lifting the Magic’s payroll for 2016/17 to more than $60.5MM against a projected $89MM cap.

Napier, 24, is fifth on the team in preseason points per game, with 10.2, and is putting up that number in just 17.0 minutes per contest. The point guard whom the Magic acquired for virtually nothing in a trade with the Heat this summer has posted 2.2 assists and 1.2 turnovers per game in his five preseason appearances. That’s slightly better than the 2.2-to-1.6 assists-to-turnover ratio he put up in his rookie season with Miami last year, and he’s scoring at about double the rate he did with the Heat.

The 2014 Final Four Most Outstanding Player went 24th overall in the 2014 draft on the same night the Magic came away with Gordon and Payton, who were top-10 picks. Payton finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting while injury limited Gordon’s impact. Oladipo was the second pick in the 2013 draft and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2014.

I regarded the option pickup for Napier as generally likely, while the same move for Gordon, Payton and Oladipo seemed highly likely. The options for Napier, Gordon and Payton are for the third seasons of their respective rookie scale contracts, which cover four years. The option for Oladipo is for his fourth season, and he’ll be eligible for a rookie scale extension next summer.

Do you agree with the Magic’s plan to pick up Napier’s option? Leave a comment to let us know.

Pistons Waive Ryan Boatright

October 25th, 2015 at 12:35pm CST by Arthur Hill

12:35pm: Boatright was waived at 5:00pm Saturday, the deadline for teams to cut players with non-guaranteed salaries without any of their salary hitting the cap, tweets former NBA executive Bobby Marks. He is expected to clear waivers Monday and be designated for the D-League Grand Rapids Drive, Detroit’s affiliate.

11:36am: The Pistons have waived guard Ryan Boatright, the team announced today. He will go to Detroit’s D-League team in Grand Rapids as an “affiliate player,” a designation for someone who was under contract with an NBA team, was waived, and who agreed to sign with the team’s D-League affiliate. An NBA team can claim the D-League rights to up to four players it waives, with the rest subject to the D-League draft if they sign there. The Nets couldn’t make Boatright an affiliate player because they don’t have a D-League affiliate.

Detroit signed Boatright on Friday after he was waived by the Nets earlier in the week. He saw little preseason playing time with Brooklyn, averaging 4.2 points, 3.8 assists and 1.0 turnover in 13.9 minutes per game. Boatright, a 6’0″ guard, was a star at Connecticut, was wasn’t selected in June’s draft.

The move brings the Pistons’ roster down to 16 players, all of whom have fully guaranteed contracts. Veteran Danny Granger is expected to waived to reach to maximum of 15.

Pelicans Eye Ish Smith; Sixers Mull Waiver Claim

October 25th, 2015 at 12:25pm CST by Arthur Hill

12:25pm: The Sixers are considering claiming Smith off waivers, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.

12:07pm: The Pelicans are nearing a deal with guard Ish Smith, tweets Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate. Kushner reports that Smith is in New Orleans and is waiting to clear waivers.

Smith was waived Saturday by the Wizards, along with four other players. He had a non-guaranteed deal in Washington after performing well for the Sixers late last season. Smith played 25 games in Philadelphia, averaging 12.1 points, 6.1 assists and 2.8 turnovers in 27.1 minutes per contest. In five preseason games with the Wizards, his averages were 2.2 points, 4.0 assists and 1.0 turnover in 11.5 minutes.

If Smith is signed, he will bring the Pelicans up to the roster limit of 15, with 13 fully guaranteed contracts plus Nate Robinson, who has a non-guaranteed deal. New Orleans would be Smith’s ninth NBA franchise.

Heat Keep James Ennis For Opener, Rework Deal

October 25th, 2015 at 12:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

SUNDAY, 12:21pm: The restructuring leaves Ennis with precisely 37% of his salary guaranteed for this season, according to Winderman (Twitter link).

4:50pm: Ennis will have 40% of this season’s salary guaranteed, Jackson clarifies (Twitter link).

4:12pm: The sides are still finalizing the changes to the contract, tweets Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.

SATURDAY 4:04pm: The Heat are keeping James Ennis for the start of the regular season after Ennis agreed to yet another change to the guarantee structure on his contract, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Ennis was to have received a full guarantee on his $845,059 salary if he stuck on the roster for opening night under the terms of the modifications he and the Heat made to his deal over the summer. Instead, his salary will be partially guaranteed for about half its full value, according to Jackson. It’s unclear if the sides agreed to a date on which the full salary would kick in or if that would take place on the leaguewide guarantee date January 10th.

Ennis, who spent the preseason on a non-guaranteed deal, initially was to have received 50% of his salary for this season if he remained on the roster through August 1st, but the sides did away with that trigger this summer. The 25-year-old swingman struggled in summer league but bounced back somewhat during the preseason. He carries potential, having been the 50th overall pick in 2013.

The latest change to Miami’s deal with Ennis also moves up the date by which his salary for 2016/17 would become fully guaranteed. The new guarantee date for that season will come before July 1st, Jackson reports. It had previously been slated for August 1st.

The Heat have 15 players, including Ennis. That’s the regular season roster limit.

Pistons Exercise Options on Caldwell-Pope, Bullock

October 25th, 2015 at 11:52am CST by Arthur Hill

The Pistons have exercised team options on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Bullock, the team announced today. The moves will affect both players’ contracts for the 2016/17 season.

Caldwell-Pope, a 6’5″ guard, was the eighth overall pick in the 2013 draft. He has played in 162 games in Detroit, starting 123, and has averaged 9.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists. He was part of the Rising Stars Challenge during the 2015 All-Star Weekend.

The Pistons acquired Bullock, a 6’7″ forward, in a July 9th trade with the Suns. He had a productive preseason, averaging 10.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 19.3 minutes of playing time. He was taken by the Clippers with the 25th pick in 2013.

Bullock’s place on the roster for this season wasn’t assured at the start of camp, but a strong preseason sold the Pistons on him and brought the idea of picking up his 2016/17 option into play, as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press wrote last week. His option is worth $2,255,644, while Caldwell-Pope’s calls for him to make $3,678,319. That adds about $5.9MM to the Pistons’ salary commitments for 2016/17, bringing the total to nearly $48.3MM against a projected $89MM cap.

Wizards Release Five Players

October 24th, 2015 at 4:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:39pm: The moves are official, the Wizards announced via press release.

4:30pm: The Wizards are releasing Josh Harrellson, Ish Smith, Jaron Johnson, Jaleel Roberts and Toure’ Murry, reports Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post (Twitter link). The team has yet to make a public announcement, but Castillo indicates the moves have indeed taken place. All were on non-guaranteed deals except Roberts, who had a $10K partial guarantee. The subtractions leave Washington with 15 players, all of whom have fully guaranteed salaries.

The players hitting waivers today faced long odds to make it to opening night, including Harrellson, who acknowledged he was likely auditioning for 29 other teams with his preseason performance. He averaged 3.9 points in 7.3 minutes per game over seven preseason appearances. The 26-year-old big man was making his return after 2014 back surgery that forced him to miss all of last season.

It was surprising to see Smith on a non-guaranteed deal with little chance to crack the opening night roster, given his strong performance down the stretch with the Sixers last season. The 27-year-old point guard averaged 12.1 points, 6.1 assists and 2.8 turnovers in 27.1 minutes per game in 25 contests for Philaelphia. He was again an efficient ball-distributor despite lower scoring in the preseason with Washington this month, notching 2.2 points, 4.0 assists and 1.0 turnover in 11.5 minutes per game over five preseason contests.

Murry, 25, rejoined the Wizards during the offseason after he was briefly with the team on a pair of 10-day contracts last season. The two-year NBA veteran combo guard averaged 3.5 points in 7.5 minutes per game during four preseason contests.

Johnson spent last season with the Rockets D-League team after going undrafted out of Louisiana Tech in 2014. The 23-year-old shooting guard posted 2.0 points in 4.7 minutes per game over six preseason appearances for Washington.

The Wizards signed Roberts in August after he went undrafted out of UNC Asheville in June and played for Washington’s summer league team in July. The 23-year-old center put up 3.3 points in 6.9 minutes per game in three preseason contests.

Cavs Waive Quinn Cook, Keep Jared Cunningham

October 24th, 2015 at 4:39pm CST by Eddie Scarito

4:39pm: The Cavs have announced that Cook has been waived.

12:34pm: The Cavaliers will waive point guard Quinn Cook, Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group reports (via Twitter). Cook’s minimum salary deal was non-guaranteed, so Cleveland won’t be responsible for any money as a result of parting ways with the player.

Cook, 22, went undrafted out of Duke this year after averaging 15.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists as a senior, His career NCAA numbers are 11.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.1 assists to go along with a shooting line of .432/.375/.853.

The subtraction of Cook lowers Cleveland’s roster count to 15 players, and means that Jared Cunningham, who is also in camp on a non-guaranteed arrangement, will make the regular season roster, Haynes notes. That’s somewhat of a surprise, since it previously appeared that the Cavs were likely to carry only 14 players for the start of the regular season. That was before Tristan Thompson re-signed, however. Cleveland is in line to pay an extra $20,895 in taxes plus $5,572 in salary to Cunningham for each day he remains on the roster, though Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal suggests he won’t be around past the point in January when his minimum salary would become fully guaranteed for the season (Twitter link).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Rockets Waive Joshua Smith, Arsalan Kazemi

October 24th, 2015 at 4:34pm CST by Eddie Scarito

4:34pm: Smith and Kazemi have been released, the Rockets announced.

3:05pm: The Rockets are waiving Joshua Smith and Arsalan Kazemi, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle reports (via Twitter). The team has yet to make an official announcement, though Feigen indicates the moves have already taken place. Neither player’s deal included any guaranteed money. The team’s roster count drops to 14 players, one below the regular season maximum.

Smith, 23, finished his NCAA career at Georgetown this spring after spending his first two seasons at UCLA, and he appeared in 33 games as a senior, averaging 10.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 20.5 minutes per night. His career collegiate numbers overall were 10.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 0.7 assists, and his career slash line was .591/.000/.613. Smith played summer league ball for the Heat this offseason, appearing in nine contests in which he averaged 5.0 PPG and 4.0 RPG.

Houston had claimed Kazemi off waivers from the Hawks earlier this month. He put up 15.0 points in 38.9 minutes per game for ChongQing AoLong of China last season.