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Bucks Sign Marcus Landry

August 17th, 2015 at 3:27pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:27pm: The signing is official, the team announced.

3:17pm: The Bucks have decided to sign former University of Wisconsin power forward Marcus Landry, sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). The move had been expected, according to Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times, who reported this morning that the one-year NBA veteran was set to work out for Milwaukee today. That audition apparently went well, as Scotto indicates that Landry has put pen to paper, though the team has yet to make a formal announcement. It’s unclear just what sort of terms are involved in the pact, though with the Bucks already carrying 15 guaranteed deals, it’s likely a minimum salary deal with a partial guarantee, at best.

It’ll be the fifth time an NBA team will have brought Landry to training camp, though he only made the regular season roster once, on his first try in 2009. The Knicks had him that year and he appeared in 17 games, averaging 2.6 points in 6.4 minutes per contest, but they shipped him to the Celtics at the deadline in a trade involving Nate Robinson. The C’s released Landry after he made just one appearance for them, and while he’s signed with the Kings, Suns and Lakers since then, he’s yet to see another opening night.

The Milwaukee native has made his mark in Spain and in the D-League as a three-point sharpshooter, and that’s a skill that the Bucks could use. Damien Inglis and Johnny O’Bryant have less than $1MM coming their way this year despite fully guaranteed salaries, so perhaps they’d be the most vulnerable to be cut if Landry proves worthy of sticking for the regular season, though that’s just my speculation based on the costs involved. The addition of Landry seemingly makes it tougher to envision Jorge Gutierrez remaining with the team after camp, since his deal is non-guaranteed.

If they keep Landry, which of the Bucks do you think should go? Leave a comment to tell us.

Celtics Rumors: Sullinger, Iverson, Holmes, Smart

August 16th, 2015 at 2:10pm CST by Arthur Hill

Rookie scale extension candidate Jared Sullinger has dropped a noticeable amount of weight in preparation for next season, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. The 6’9″ forward averaged 13.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game last season, but he isn’t guaranteed playing time in the Celtics’ crowded frontcourt. He will have to compete with the newly acquired Amir Johnson and David Lee, along with holdovers Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Zeller and Jonas Jerebko. It was reported in March that if Sullinger receives an extension, it could come with a weight clause.

There’s more news out of Boston:

Colton Iverson has officially signed with the Turkish team Pinar Karsiyaka, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The Colorado State product, whose rights were sent from Indiana to Boston in a 2013 draft-night trade, spent last season with Baskonia in Spain.
The Celtics had interest in inviting Texas forward Jonathan Holmes to training camp, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. However, because Boston had a wealth of forwards and too many guaranteed contracts, Holmes decided to pursue other options. He landed a partially guaranteed deal with the Lakers.
With about six weeks left until training camp, Marcus Smart is going through two-a-day exercises to try to rehab two dislocated fingers on his right hand, Washburn writes in the same piece. His agent says Smart is hoping to resume basketball activities within two weeks.

Thunder To Sign Dez Wells

August 14th, 2015 at 6:50pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Thunder have reached an agreement on a contract with undrafted free agent Dez Wells, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (via Twitter). While the length and terms of the pact are not yet known, it is likely a training camp pact that may possibly include a small partial guarantee, though that is just my speculation.

The former Maryland guard had previously been extended a training camp invite by the Wizards, as well as by five other unnamed teams. He reportedly turned down Washington’s offer because they already possess 15 players on guaranteed pacts, and he wanted better odds at landing a regular season roster spot. Wells was reportedly open to signing with the Wizards if Garrett Temple was dealt to the Jazz and a roster spot opened up as a result. Oklahoma City also has 15 players on guaranteed deals, as our roster count for the team shows, so it’s curious what led Wells to choose the Thunder, seeing as his odds are equally long to stick once the regular season commences.

In 28 appearances during his senior season with the Terrapins, Wells averaged 15.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists to go along with a slash line of .464/.510/.806.

Mavs Sign JaVale McGee

August 13th, 2015 at 1:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Mavericks have signed JaVale McGee, the team announced, as Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com tweets. The team had initiated talks with the center last month, as Shams Charania of RealGM had reported, but it seemed like that door was closed when the Mavs signed Samuel Dalembert and others to bring themselves to 15 fully guaranteed deals. Dallas also had serious concerns about McGee’s health, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, but it appears as though the Mavs are willing to take a risk. The Mavs have been holding on to their $2.814MM room exception, but McGee will see only the minimum in his contract, which covers two years with a team option on the final season, Stein tweets.

The Wasserman Media Group client had reportedly rejected a similar offer from the Celtics late last season, preferring a player option instead. Boston and McGee had seemingly been close to a deal at that point, and plenty of rumors have surrounded the 27-year-old for the past several months as he’s lingered in free agency. The Sixers waived him shortly after acquiring him from the Nuggets at the trade deadline. Philadelphia did so even though McGee still had $12MM coming to him for this season, but the center’s deal with Dallas, which will pay him the seven-year veteran’s minimum of $1,270,964 this season, means the Sixers are eligible to withhold as much as $212,953 via set-off rights.

The Mavericks reportedly held strong interest in McGee this spring after talks with the Celtics fell through, and the Warriors, Raptors, Rockets and Heat were also apparently eyeing him, though reports conflicted on just how much Golden State wanted the former 18th overall pick. The Mavs eventually dropped out of the running, too, and while McGee later reportedly backed off his demand for a player option, no deal materialized until now. Reports indicated that the Celtics appeared ready to jump back in the mix after the end of this past season, the Kings set their sights on him in June, and the Clippers planned to talk with him in July, but it was the revived interest from the Mavs that ultimately lured the 7-footer.

McGee has played in only 28 games after suffering a stress fracture early in the 2013/14 season. He’s nonetheless another contender to start at center for the Mavs, whom DeAndre Jordan notoriously spurned after initially having agreed to sign with them. Dalembert and trade acquisition Zaza Pachulia also appear to be in the mix, with free agent signees Salah Mejri, Jarrid Famous and incumbent Dwight Powell also available at the position.

All the new faces leave the Mavs with only six players eligible for inclusion in a trade, notes former Nets executive Bobby Marks (Twitter link), and that’s troublesome, given that McGee is joining a roster that already featured 15 fully guaranteed salaries. Still, Dallas has shown a willingness to eat guaranteed money in the past, waiving Bernard James and Gal Mekel last fall despite their fully guaranteed salaries. Powell, Famous, Jamil Wilson and Brandon Ashley nonetheless face long odds to make it past the preseason, since their salaries aren’t fully guaranteed.

Do you think the McGee signing will work out for the Mavs? Leave a comment to tell us.

Lakers Sign Jonathan Holmes

August 13th, 2015 at 12:27pm CST by Eddie Scarito

THURSDAY, 12:27pm: The deal is official, the Lakers announced. The team refers to it as a multiyear pact, so that means it covers two years, since the Lakers don’t have the capacity to give out a longer contract.

SATURDAY, 2:09pm: The Lakers have reached a contract agreement with undrafted forward Jonathan Holmes, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). The length and terms of the deal are not yet known, but Charania indicates that it includes a significant amount that will be partially guaranteed.

The addition of Holmes will increase the Lakers’ roster count to 15 players, including 12 fully-guaranteed pacts. The forward out of Texas will compete for a roster spot and frontcourt minutes. But it’s also entirely possible that Los Angeles has designs on sending Holmes to its D-League affiliate to gain seasoning for a large chunk of the 2015/16 campaign, though that is merely my speculation.

In 32 appearances for the Longhorns last season, Holmes logged averages of 10.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 26.1 minutes per contest. His shooting line was .389/.331/.778. His career NCAA numbers are 9.2 PPG, 5.9 RPG, and 0.7 APG.

Celtics, Levi Randolph Agree To Camp Deal

August 12th, 2015 at 4:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

AUGUST 12TH, 4:35pm: The pact is indeed for the minimum salary and Randolph will receive a partial guarantee worth $25k, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.

JULY 23RD, 10:41am: The Celtics will sign undrafted shooting guard Levi Randolph for training camp after the former University of Alabama standout accepted their offer, a source told Matt Zenitz of AL.com. Multiple overseas teams made offers, too, Zenitz writes, with Italy’s Vuelle Pesaro apparently the latest, as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports. Boston has the flexibility to use cap space, so while it would seem unlikely that the 6’4″ Randolph will sign for more than the minimum salary, it’s possible that his contract will cover as many as four years. It’s unclear if any partially guaranteed money is involved, as is sometimes the case with camp invitees.

Randolph worked out for the Celtics prior to the draft, but he wasn’t a strong candidate to hear his name called on draft night, with Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranking him the 101st-best prospect and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress listing him only as the 48th-best senior in this year’s class. The 22-year-old, who turns 23 in October, split summer league between the Thunder and Jazz, averaging 4.8 points in 20.5 minutes per game with 2 for 15 three-point shooting in 10 total appearances.

The worst-case scenario for Randolph involves him ending up in the D-League, Zenitz’s source said, so it appears he’s willing to go that route rather than play overseas should the Celtics cut him at the end of the preseason. Boston has a one-to-one D-League affiliate, so the C’s can retain his D-League rights should he fail to make the opening-night NBA roster. That seems the most likely scenario, with Boston already poised to carry 16 guaranteed contracts.

Pacers Sign Toney Douglas To Camp Deal

August 11th, 2015 at 10:41am CST by Eddie Scarito

AUGUST 11TH, 10:41am: The deal is official, the team announced. Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird nonetheless seems to make it clear that Douglas isn’t assured of a spot on the opening night roster, which would suggest his contract isn’t fully guaranteed.

“We look forward to having him in camp,” Bird said in the team’s statement. “He’s a veteran player who’s a good pro and he can play two positions. He’s the type of player we’re looking for with our new style of play. We look forward to working with him and having him in camp.”

AUGUST 6TH, 5:01pm: The Pacers intend to sign unrestricted free agent Toney Douglas, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports (via Twitter). The 29-year-old is already in Indiana working out with the team, Zillgitt adds. Indiana currently has a roster count of 15 players, including 14 fully guaranteed pacts.

The guard was waived by the Pelicans at the end of July so that the team could avoid being on the hook for his 2015/16 salary of $1,185,784, which would have become fully guaranteed if Douglas remained on New Orleans’ roster through August 1st.

Douglas appeared in 12 games for New Orleans during the 2014/15 season, averaging 4.3 points and 2.0 assists in 14.8 minutes per game. His career numbers through six NBA seasons are 7.6 PPG, 2.2 RPG, and 2.2 APG.

Nets Waive Earl Clark

August 10th, 2015 at 4:02pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 10TH, 4:02pm: The move has indeed taken place, the team announced via press release.

AUGUST 3RD, 8:07pm: The Nets will waive forward Earl Clark this week so that he can pursue a deal elsewhere, league sources told RealGM’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com confirms the impending transaction and notes that the Nets will be down to 16 players under contract for the upcoming season (Twitter links).

Clark epitomizes the journeyman label, having played for six teams since entering the league in 2009/10. The 6’10” Clark appeared in 10 games with the Nets last season, averaging 2.7 points and 2.3 rebounds in 9.3 minutes.

Back in June, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders reported that the 27-year-old wanted to stay with Brooklyn but his non-guaranteed salary made him expendable (Twitter links). Clark was scheduled to earn $1,185,784.

Celtics Waive Zoran Dragic

August 10th, 2015 at 3:52pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Celtics have waived Zoran Dragic, the team announced. The team had reportedly been likely to release him ever since Boston picked him up in last month’s trade with Miami, though it appeared as though the team was holding out to see if it could find a trade partner. The Celtics had held signed contracts or verbal agreements with 21 players, but before they could officially sign all of the players they’ve invited to camp, they had to unload someone to comply with the 20-man offseason roster limit.

The main attraction of the trade in which Boston received Dragic is Miami’s unprotected 2020 second-round pick. The Celtics also net $100K in cash, since they received from Miami $1.6MM and are on the hook for $1.5MM to Dragic unless another team claims him off waivers, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (All Twitter links). Dragic’s cap figure is slightly more than $1.706MM, but that reflects a signing bonus that the Suns gave him when he signed last year that the Celtics aren’t responsible for, Pincus points out.

Dragic, 26, averaged only 1.8 points in 4.7 minutes per game across 16 appearances this past season, his first since coming over from Europe to join his brother, Goran, on the Suns. The Suns sent the Dragic brothers in tandem to the Heat at the trade deadline. Miami committed a five-year contract to Goran this summer, and he was reportedly OK with the deal that sent his brother to Boston. The Heat can’t re-sign Zoran until next July.

Today’s move still leaves the Celtics with a tough call to make, since they have 16 fully guaranteed contracts, as our roster counts show. They’ve also signed Corey Walden and Malcolm Miller to camp deals and will reportedly bring Levi Randolph and Coty Clarke to camp as well.

Do you think Zoran Dragic will end up on another NBA team someday? Leave a comment to let us know.

Nets Sign Donald Sloan

August 10th, 2015 at 1:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:01am: The deal is for the minimum salary and includes a small guarantee, NetsDaily tweets, citing a league source.

11:50am: The Nets have signed point guard Donald Sloan, the team announced via press release. The new client of Byron Irvin and Dan Fegan became a free agent when his deal with the Pacers expired at the end of June.

Sloan is coming off a career-high 21 starts for an injury-riddled Indiana team this past season. The four-year veteran spent the past two seasons with the Pacers after having played for three teams in his first couple of years in the league. He’s a strong distributor, averaging 3.6 assists against 1.2 turnovers per game in 2014/15, and he was the fourth most efficient assist producer left in free agency, as I noted last week. He was in talks with the Spurs, Bulls and Mavericks last month, as Shams Charania of RealGM reported then, so the Nets appear to have been a more recent suitor.

Brooklyn is hanging around the $84.74MM tax threshold, with less than that figure in guaranteed salary but more than that if non-guaranteed salary is factored in. Sloan made the minimum this past season, and it would be somewhat surprising to see him make more this time around. Still, the Nets do have $2.464MM left on their mid-level exception that they could use if they’re on board with triggering a hard cap of $4MM above the tax line.

The Nets have only 12 fully guaranteed contracts, but Markel Brown, Quincy Miller, Willie Reed and rookie Ryan Boatright all have partially guaranteed pacts, as our roster counts show. Sloan figures to compete with Boatright for the job as Brooklyn’s third point guard behind Jarrett Jack and Shane Larkin.