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Rockets Sign Montrezl Harrell To Three-Year Deal

September 19th, 2015 at 11:19am CST by Chuck Myron

SATURDAY, 11:19am: The Rockets have formally announced the signing (on Twitter).

2:35pm: Rockets GM Daryl Morey took to Twitter to welcome Harrell to the Rockets, so presumably that means he’s signed.

FRIDAY, 9:46am: The Rockets will sign Harrell to a contract worth $3.1MM over three years today, a source tells Feigen (Twitter link). It’ll include no option years or non-guaranteed salary, Feigen also hears. Still unclear is what Harrell will make this coming season, a figure that will determine how much the Rockets have left beneath their hard cap.

WEDNESDAY, 7:37am: Harrell is close to signing, but the sides are still hammering out some details, in spite of what McHale said, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). They do have agreement on the main parts of the deal, Feigen adds.

10:45pm: Rockets coach Kevin McHale said Harrell has signed with the team, Mark Berman of Fox 26 tweets.

11:45am: The sides have reached an agreement in principle, sources tell Spears (Twitter link).

TUESDAY, 11:02am: The Rockets and No. 32 overall pick Montrezl Harrell are finalizing a three-year deal, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The three-year length means the team is using its mid-level exception and will be hard-capped, as I explained in detail earlier. Houston won’t be able to carry a payroll of more than $88.74MM at any point this season once the deal with the Rich Paul client becomes official. The team already has $86,180,389 in guaranteed salary, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. It’s not immediately clear how much more the deal for Harrell will add to the total, but regardless, the Rockets won’t have much breathing room beneath the hard cap.

No. 31 pick Cedi Osman, the top pick of the second round, is unsigned, while No. 33 pick Jordan Mickey will receive a guarantee of nearly $1.171MM this season in the first year of the four-year contract he signed with the Celtics. No. 30 pick Kevon Looney will make a guaranteed $1,131,960 this season, though his salary was determined by the rookie scale that applies to first-rounders but not second-rounders. So, it would seem that Harrell is in range for a salary of around $1.1MM to $1.2MM, leaving as little as about $1.36MM beneath that hard cap for the Rockets.

Negotiations between the Rockets and Harrell’s camp have largely been quiet, with a late-August dispatch from Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com indicating the sides were talking the only substantive update since the draft in June. Still, it seemed the Rockets were doing what they could to clear the decks for a Harrell signing, breaking off their deal with Chuck Hayes, who later signed with the Clippers, and apparently also having undone their agreement to sign undrafted power forward Christian Wood, who inked with the Sixers instead. Both Hayes and Wood were to receive partial guarantees from the Rockets that would have counted against a hard cap.

Houston could have signed Harrell using the minimum salary exception and avoided the hard cap, but that would have entailed a salary of just $525,093 this season, one that Harrell and Paul were unlikely to have accepted, unless it came in the form of a one-year deal. The Rockets had to make a tender of a non-guaranteed one-year contract for the minimum salary by September 5th, and while signing that would have meant a short-term financial sacrifice for Harrell, he would have hit restricted free agency next summer just as K.J. McDaniels, last year’s No. 32 overall pick, did this year. McDaniels wound up re-signing with the Rockets on a deal worth $10MM over three years, the sort of price Houston probably wants to avoid paying to keep Harrell.

The Rockets instead appear to have averted that scenario at the cost of flexibility for this season. Harrell will presumably become the team’s 14th player with a fully guaranteed deal. Four others are on non-guaranteed deals, as our roster count shows, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Houston elect not to carry 15 players for opening night, given the team’s financial squeeze. Teams can have between 13 and 15 players during the regular season.

Do you think the Rockets made the right decision to control Harrell for three years and hard cap themselves for this season? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Kings Sign Marshall Henderson

September 18th, 2015 at 7:08pm CST by Eddie Scarito

SEPTEMBER 18TH, 7:08pm: The signing is official, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter links). The one-year, minimum salary deal includes a partial guarantee of $35K, Pincus adds.

AUGUST 27TH, 10:32pm: The Kings will sign unrestricted free agent shooting guard Marshall Henderson, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). The length and terms of he deal are unknown, but Spears referred to the arrangement as a training camp deal, so it’s likely a minimum salary pact with little or no guaranteed money included. The addition of Henderson will give Sacramento a roster count of 17, including 14 players possessing full guarantees on their deals.

Henderson, 24, went undrafted out of Mississippi in 2014 after a number of incidents involving narcotics, the string of which began during his Senior year of high school. “I got a lot of good feedback about being drafted in the second round,” Henderson had told Spears back in March. “Then I got in trouble that summer and then it seemed like that was the end of [the NBA interest]. There was really nothing after that. I have to live with that.”

During his Senior season at Mississippi back in 2013/14, Henderson averaged 19.0 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 31.1 minutes per contest. His slash line was .353/.342/.817. The 6’2″ guard played overseas last season for both Al Rayyan of the Qatari Basketball League and the Iraqi club Nift Al-Janoub.

Hawks To Sign Edgar Sosa

September 18th, 2015 at 5:38pm CST by Eddie Scarito

5:38pm: Sosa’s deal is non-guaranteed, international journalist David Pick tweets.

4:35pm: The Hawks have agreed to a deal with unrestricted free agent point guard Edgar Sosa, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (via Twitter). The length and terms of the pact are unknown, but Vivlamore refers to it as a training camp pact, which means it is likely a minimum salary contract with little or no guaranteed money included, though that is merely my speculation.

Sosa, 27, went undrafted out of Louisville back in 2010 after posting career NCAA numbers of 9.7 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. He joined the Pistons summer league entry that season, but he ended up signing overseas with the Italian club Angelico Biella. The point guard spent the 2014/15 campaign playing for Dinamo Sassari in Italy. Sosa’s numbers last season were 10.7 PPG, 1.5 RPG, and 3.5 APG to accompany a slash line of .387/.320/.789.

The 6’3″ guard joins a Hawks squad that already has 18 players on the roster, including 13 with fully guaranteed deals. The team’s coaching staff has some experience with Sosa, with him having played on the Dominican Republic’s squad during this summer’s FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament that Hawks assistant coach Kenny Atkinson was a part of, Vivlamore notes (Twitter link).

Rockets Waive Remi Yusuf

September 18th, 2015 at 5:01pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Rockets have waived guard Remi Yusuf, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insider reports (Twitter link). The guard’s minimum salary deal was non-guaranteed, so Houston won’t be on the hook for any salary as a result of this move. Waiving Yusuf will reduce the Rockets’ roster count to 18 players.

It’s unclear what the exact motivation for the team to release Yusuf prior to the start of training camp is. Former Nets executive Bobby Marks (Twitter links) speculates that Yusuf was originally inked to allow the Rockets to sign Denzel Livingston, Will Cummings, and Chris Walker to Exhibit 9 contracts. As Marks points out, teams need to have 14 players signed prior to being able to ink players to such deals.

Yusuf, a native of Nigeria, played at Texas A&M-Kingsville before going undrafted in 2006, and he spent time last season playing with SKP Banska Bystrica in Slovakia.

Bucks Officially Sign Powell, Horford, Westbrook

September 18th, 2015 at 3:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Bucks have officially signed Josh Powell, Jon Horford and Charlie Westbrook, the team announced. All three are on non-guaranteed contracts for the minimum salary that cover one season, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reported earlier this week when he noted the trio had put pen to paper. The contracts give Milwaukee an even 20 players, the preseason limit, though 15 of them have fully guaranteed deals, meaning Powell, Horford and Westbrook are long shots to stick for opening night.

Powell spent last season as part of the Rockets coaching staff after accruing eight years of service time as an NBA player, including two seasons with the Lakers, who won the title both years. Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports first reported earlier this month that the 32-year-old power forward would leave coaching to resume his playing career (Twitter link).

Horford, also a power forward, is the younger brother of Hawks star Al Horford. The 23-year-old went undrafted this year out of Florida after spending most of his college career at Michigan. Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops was the first to report that Horford would join Bucks camp (Twitter link).

It’s the second NBA contract for Westbrook, who went undrafted out of South Dakota in 2012. He joined the Heat for the preseason in 2013. Westbrook, 26, was with Hyeres-Toulon Var in France’s second-tier league last season. Charania initially reported the shooting guard’s camp deal with the Bucks (Twitter link).

Now that the team’s summer moves appear complete, what do you think of the Bucks this season? Leave a comment to tell us.

Nets Sign Justin Harper

September 18th, 2015 at 2:07pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Nets have signed one-year NBA veteran Justin Harper, the team announced via press release. Harper was the 32nd overall pick in the 2011 draft, but this is his first contract since the Magic waived him at the end of the 2012 preseason. The power forward is the 20th player with whom the Nets have either a verbal agreement or a signed contract, as our roster count shows, though only 12 of them have fully guaranteed pacts. His addition presumably means Brooklyn is done with offseason additions, since the preseason roster limit is 20.

Harper, 26, spent this past season with Sidigas Avellino in Italy’s top division, averaging 12.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 27.2 minutes per game. He’s also played in Israel, France and the D-League during his pro career, one in which he’s scored 20 points in 84 total NBA minutes. Harper has been a frequent presence at summer league over the years, appearing on both the Suns and Pistons summer squads this July and notching 5.4 PPG in 12.5 MPG across 11 contests.

The competition for the final spots on Brooklyn’s 15-man regular season roster holds intrigue. Five players have partially guaranteed deals with the team, while veteran swingman Dahntay Jones and undrafted rookie Yanick Moreira are reportedly coming to camp without any guaranteed money. The level of guarantee in Harper’s contract isn’t immediately clear.

Assuming the Nets start the regular season with 15 players, who do you think will land the last three open spots? Leave a comment to let us know.

Wolves Sign Nick Wiggins

September 18th, 2015 at 12:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

FRIDAY, 12:29pm: The deal is official, the team announced (on Twitter).

THURSDAY, 4:05pm: The Timberwolves have agreed to a deal with unrestricted free agent swingman Nick Wiggins, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). It is a non-guaranteed training camp deal, according to Pincus, likely for the minimum salary, though that is merely my speculation.

Wiggins, 24, is the older brother of Andrew Wiggins. The elder Wiggins went undrafted in 2014 out of Wichita State after averaging 5.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 0.6 assists as a Senior. He spent the 2014 summer league playing for the Kings’ squad before signing a deal to play with Tigers Tübingen of the Basketball Bundesliga, though his tenure with the team ended after just 11 contests. Wiggins played for both the Jazz and Wolves in the summer league this offseason.

Minnesota now has 19 players heading to training camp with the team, including 16 with full guarantees on their contracts. This number includes center Kleon Penn, who agreed to a training camp deal with the team on Wednesday.

Wolves Sign Kleon Penn

September 18th, 2015 at 12:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

FRIDAY, 12:28pm: The deal is official, the team announced (on Twitter).

WEDNESDAY, 9:00pm: The Timberwolves have agreed to a deal with unrestricted free agent center Kleon Penn, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reports (Twitter link). The length and terms of the deal are not yet known. It is most likely a minimum salary training camp deal that includes little or no guaranteed salary, though that is merely my speculation.

The 29-year-old went undrafted out of McNeese State back in 2009, and he has played outside the U.S. ever since. Penn spent the 2014/15 season playing for the Puerto Rican team Vaqueros de Bayamon. In 44 contests last season, Penn averaged 4.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks in 19.3 minutes of action per night. His career NCAA numbers were 5.5 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 2.9 BPG to go along with a shooting line of .601/.000/.565.

Penn joins a Timberwolves squad that already has a roster count of 17 players, including 16 possessing fully guaranteed deals. The 6’11” big man will certainly have a slim chance to beat the odds and secure a spot on Minnesota’s opening night roster, though he will provide some frontcourt depth during the preseason.

Cavaliers To Sign Nick Minnerath

September 17th, 2015 at 3:50pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Cavaliers have agreed to a deal with unrestricted free agent forward Nick Minnerath, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group reports (Twitter link). The pact is for one year and non-guaranteed, Haynes adds. It’ll have to be for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Cavs can offer after spending the taxpayer’s mid-level exception on Mo Williams and Sasha Kaun.

Minnerath, 26, passed up a training camp invitation from the Lakers two seasons ago to play for Obradoiro in Spain. The forward spent the 2014/15 campaign with Cholet Basket of France where he averaged 13.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 0.5 assists in 32 contests. He played his collegiate ball at the University of Detroit, logging career NCAA averages of 12.7 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 0.9 APG to go along with a slash line of .493/.369/.814.

The addition of Minnerath will give Cleveland a roster count of 16 players, including 13 possessing fully guaranteed pacts. This number doesn’t include power forward Tristan Thompson, who still remains unsigned.

Norris Cole Takes Qualifying Offer From Pelicans

September 17th, 2015 at 3:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

THURSDAY, 3:00pm: The signing is official, the Pelicans announced.

WEDNESDAY, 11:22am: Restricted free agent Norris Cole has accepted his qualifying offer from the Pelicans, a source tells Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Agent Rich Paul confirmed to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that he’s signed the tender, worth $3,036,927, though the team has made no official announcement (Twitter link). The qualifying offer, which covers one season, sets Cole up for unrestricted free agency next summer, and it also gives him the right to veto trades this season.

The point guard’s free agency had been slow-going, as is common among Paul’s clients. However, the start of camp is less than two weeks away, and fellow Paul client Montrezl Harrell reached an agreement in principle Tuesday with the Rockets. Cavs restricted free agent Tristan Thompson, Paul’s most prominent unsigned client, remains in limbo.

Cole, once he officially signs the qualifying offer, will become the just 20th player to do so since 1995, joining Matthew Dellavedova, who signed his qualifying offer from the Cavaliers in July. Still, it’s no shock that Cole is doing so, as a source told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops in late July that the 26-year-old saw the qualifying offer as a viable option. Grantland’s Zach Lowe suggests both sides have reason to be comfortable with it (Twitter link). Cole, a backup, will play this season on a salary that’s almost as much as the value of the taxpayer’s mid-level exception and hit the open market next summer, just as the salary cap is set to spike and teams will have money to burn. The Pelicans keep costs in check and preserve about $5MM worth of room beneath the luxury tax line.

The Sixers, Knicks and Lakers all reportedly had interest this summer in the former 28th overall pick, but New Orleans kept up its pursuit and had the right to match offers. New coach Alvin Gentry recently expressed a desire to have Cole re-sign, and Anthony Davis was also hopeful that Cole would be back. Dana Gauruder of Hoops Rumors examined Cole’s free agency in depth last month, concluding that he would do well to sign the qualifying offer.

Cole is becomes the 17th Pelican to have either a signed contract or a verbal agreement with the team, and his addition will give New Orleans 14 fully guaranteed deals. It’ll bump the Pelicans team salary to about $79.652MM, well beneath the $84.74MM tax threshold and their $88.74MM hard cap.

Who do you think benefits the most from a signed qualifying offer, Cole or the Pelicans? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.