Nets Sign Ryan Boatright
SEPTEMBER 25TH, 3:35pm: Boatright appears on the team’s official training camp roster, which serves as confirmation from the Nets that Boatright has been signed.
JULY 3RD, 6:50pm: The Nets have reached a contract agreement with Ryan Boatright, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (on Twitter). The pact is for two years, $1.4MM, with $75k guaranteed, Pincus adds. Boatright will earn $525,093 next season and $874,636 for the 2016/17 campaign. Minimum-salary deals for two years or less, such as this one, are some of the few allowed to become official during the July Moratorium.
Boatright went undrafted after four seasons at the University of Connecticut. His career NCAA numbers are 14.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists, with a slash line of .416/.380/.794. The 6’0″ guard will add depth behind Deron Williams if he makes the regular season roster.The 22-year-old considered turning pro after UConn won the title back in 2014, as he told Hoops Rumors’ Zach Links prior to the 2015 NBA Draft. “Yes, I was going to go pro right after we won,” said Boatright. “I knew my name was hot and I had a great tournament. However, after I spoke with everyone whose opinion I trusted, I felt like one more year would be good for me. The last day before the deadline, I decided to go back to school to show everyone that I could run the team and be a true point guard.“
Wizards Officially Sign Five For Camp
The Wizards have officially signed Josh Harrellson, Jaron Johnson, Toure’ Murry, Jaleel Roberts and Ish Smith, the team announced. All five moves were expected, and none of them have any guaranteed salary, according to reports. The Wizards already have 15 fully guaranteed deals, so it would be tough for today’s camp additions to stick for opening night. All except Johnson are known to be on one-year contracts for the minimum, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, though it would be surprising if Johnson signed for terms that were any different.
Harrellson, a three-year veteran big man, is returning to the NBA after sitting out last season as he recovered from back surgery. Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports first reported the deal with the 26-year-old.
Charania also revealed that Johnson, a 23-year-old shooting guard, would attend Wizards camp. Johnson spent last season with the D-League affiliate of the Rockets after going undrafted out of Louisiana Tech in 2014.
The Wizards are familiar with Murry from his time on a pair of 10-day contracts with the team last season. J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic reported the deal between the Wizards and the 25-year-old combo guard.
Roberts is poised to celebrate his 23rd birthday next month in Wizards camp. Charania reported that the center who went undrafted out of UNC-Asheville this year would head to Washington.
Four teams had Smith at one point or another in 2014/15, and though he had a strong finishing kick with the Sixers, the 27-year-old point guard will have to fight to stay on the roster in Washington. Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post reported Smith’s deal with the Wizards.
Which Wizards camp invitee has the greatest potential to surprise and remain on the roster for the start of the regular season? Leave a comment to tell us.
Hawks To Sign Earl Barron For Camp
The Hawks will sign Earl Barron to a training camp deal to replace the retiring Jason Richardson, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The nine-year veteran finished last season with the Suns. He’s the 20th player with whom the Hawks have either a signed contract or a verbal agreement, putting them at the preseason roster limit, though they’ll ostensibly release Richardson soon.
The 34-year-old Barron hadn’t drawn much interest in free agency this summer, as our rumors page for him indicates, but he’s shown a knack for making his way onto NBA rosters despite limited playing time. Last season’s 16 games with the Suns were the most Barron had played in an NBA season since 2010/11, when he totaled 21 appearances split among three teams. The center’s best season was 2007/08, when he appeared in 46 contests, and 15 of them as a member of the starting lineup, for the Heat.
Atlanta offers him a decent chance at a regular season roster spot, since the team only has 13 fully guaranteed contracts. Mike Muscala has half of his two-year veteran’s minimum salary guaranteed, ostensibly giving him the inside track on spot No. 14. The four players aside from Barron who are in the mix for the 15th spot, assuming the Hawks carry that many guys on opening night, have a combined one year of NBA experience, so Barron is by far the best option if coach/executive Mike Budenholzer prefers a veteran.
Do you think Barron could help the Hawks this season? Leave a comment to weigh in.
Celtics Officially Sign Four For Camp
The Celtics confirmed the signings of Coty Clarke, Malcolm Miller, Levi Randolph and Corey Walden in an announcement today. All four had already put pen to paper, according to reports, but Boston had yet to acknowledge the deals. Each player has a partial guarantee of $25K on a rookie minimum salary, except for Clarke, whose contract is non-guaranteed, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reported. Walden, who signed a two-year deal, is the only one of the quartet with more than a one-year pact, according to Pincus.
Clarke, 23, went undrafted out of Arkansas in 2014 and spent this past season playing for Hapoel Kazrin in Israel. Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia first reported the 6’7″ combo forward would join Celtics camp.
Miller is familiar with Boston, having gone undrafted out of Holy Cross this year, and he played on the Celtics summer league team. Kevin O’Connor of SB Nation’s CelticsBlog broke the story that the 22-year-old small forward would sign with the Celtics.
Multiple overseas teams came calling for Randolph, but he instead spurned them for the Celtics, according to Carchia, with Matt Zenitz of AL.com reporting the Boston deal. Randolph, a shooting guard who went undrafted out of Alabama this year, will have his 23rd birthday next month.
Teams also passed on Walden in the draft this year after he came out of Eastern Kentucky. The 23-year-old is 6’2″ and undersized as a shooting guard, but the Celtics were nonetheless interested in bringing him to camp on a deal that A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com reported.
Boston already has 16 others on fully guaranteed contracts, one more than the 15-man regular season roster limit, so Clarke, Miller, Randolph and Walden face especially long odds to stick for opening night. It’s more likely they’ll end up with the Celtics D-League affiliate. Boston can retain the D-League rights to as many as four players it cuts.
Which Celtics camp signee has the most potential? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Lakers Sign Metta World Peace
6:18pm: The signing is official, the Lakers announced.
4:31pm: The Lakers and unrestricted free agent forward Metta World Peace have agreed to a deal, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports. It will be a one-year, minimum salary arrangement that’s non-guaranteed, Wojnarowski adds. The contract is expected to be signed today and the veteran will take his physical on Friday, notes Wojnarowski.
The 35-year-old did not play in the NBA last season. He appeared in 29 games with the Knicks in 2013/14. Last season, he played 15 games for the Sichuan Blue Whales in the Chinese Basketball Association before a knee injury sidelined him. He finished out the season with Pallacanestro Cantu in the Italian League, averaging 13.3 points and 4.0 rebounds. World Peace does have a history with the Lakers, having played four seasons with them before joining the Knicks after Los Angeles used the amnesty provision to cut him loose. He appeared in 75 games with the Lakers in 2012/13, his final season in L.A., averaging 12.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists while making 66 starts.
World Peace is expected to make the regular season roster and play a role as a small forward off the bench, as well as to act as a veteran extension of coach Byron Scott in the young Lakers locker room, Wojnarowski writes. The addition of World Peace gives Los Angeles a roster count of 19 players, 12 of whom have fully guaranteed pacts.
Cavs To Re-Sign Tristan Thompson?
5:48pm: Broussard tweeted an update to his initial report, noting that Thompson is willing to sign a the previously reported three-year deal, but the Cavaliers have not yet agreed to that proposal.
5:25pm: Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal refutes the report that the two sides have agreed to a deal (Twitter link). Lloyd indicates that no deal has been struck, and that the Cavs are not interested in signing Thompson to the reported terms.
5:11pm: Power forward Tristan Thompson has agreed to re-sign with the Cavaliers, Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). It will be a three-year, $53MM deal, Broussard adds. The return of Thompson, who is a restricted free agent, will increase Cleveland’s roster count to 18 players.
The two sides apparently reached a compromise, with Cleveland having reportedly offered Thompson a five-year, $80MM deal previously, while the forward’s camp was reportedly holding out for a max deal worth $94MM over the same span, according to a report by Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The Cavs were operating under the threat that Thompson would sign the team’s one-year qualifying offer of nearly $6.8MM in order to become an unrestricted free agent next year.
His agent, Rich Paul, recently claimed that if Thompson would not re-sign with the Cavs for the long-term in 2016 if he signed that qualifying offer. Paul also has reportedly heard from three NBA teams that are willing to offer his client a max salary next summer if he hits unrestricted free agency. The agent reportedly believed that he could land a max deal from the Raptors for Thompson, a Toronto native, but it’s unclear if they were one of the three teams.
Thompson, 24, appeared in 82 games for the Cavs in 2014/15, averaging 8.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 0.5 assists in 26.8 minutes per contest. His career numbers through four NBA seasons are 10.1 PPG, 8.4 RPG, and 0.8 APG to go along with a slash line of .488/.000/.633.
Magic Sign Greg Stiemsma, Nnanna Egwu
4:18pm: The signings are official, the team announced via a press release.
11:02am: The Magic expect to bring Greg Stiemsma and Nnanna Egwu to training camp, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). Robbins lists the pair along with Keith Appling, Melvin Ejim and Jordan Sibert, each of whom has a previously reported deal to join the Magic for camp. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities reported earlier that Stiemsma was close to a deal with Orlando. The additions of the veteran center, plus Egwu, a center who went undrafted out of Illinois this year, will give the Magic 19 players, including 13 on fully guaranteed contracts.
Stiemsma, 29, has five years of NBA service time and spent this past season with the Raptors after securing a regular season roster spot in camp last fall. His playing time was down sharply from a career-best 18.3 minutes per game for the Pelicans in 2013/14, when he made 20 starts. Stiemsma came off the bench in all 17 appearances for Toronto in 2014/15 and saw a career-low 3.9 minutes per game.
Egwu was with the Magic in summer league, when he posted 3.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 20.0 minutes per game across five contests. The 6’11” 22-year-old, who turns 23 next month, also had a single-digit scoring average in each of his four college seasons, though he was a starter for all but one game the past three years for the Illini.
Veterans like Stiemsma don’t usually end up in the D-League, but it seems a decent chance exists that Egwu will ultimately make his way to Orlando’s D-League affiliate. The Magic can retain the D-League rights to as many as four of the players they cut at the end of the preseason.
Should the Magic keep Stiemsma for the regular season? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Magic Sign Keith Appling
SEPTEMBER 24TH, 4:17pm: The signing is official, the Magic announced in a press release.
JULY 20TH, 2:51pm: The Magic and Keith Appling have agreed to a partially guaranteed two-year deal, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The point guard from Michigan State played summer league ball with the Magic earlier this month. Orlando has its $2.814MM room exception to spend, but it seems more likely that this will be a minimum-salary contract.
The Thunder reportedly met with him a couple of weeks ago. Appling was with the Lakers during the preseason last fall after having gone undrafted in 2014. He spent much of the season with the Lakers D-League affiliate before a trade sent him to the Magic’s D-League team. He averaged 10.5 points, 3.9 assists and 1.9 turnovers in 24.4 minutes per game across 38 total D-League appearances. The 23-year-old displayed more scoring prowess in summer league this year, posting 15.6 PPG in 26.3 MPG over five games.
The existence of a partial guarantee in his deal doesn’t necessarily mean he has a better shot to make the Magic’s opening night roster. Orlando reportedly gave Peyton Siva a partial guarantee in his deal last summer but viewed him as a D-League player. The Magic apparently used the partial guarantee as a way to gild his D-League salary and help keep him from signing overseas or ending up with another D-League team. NBA clubs can retain the D-League rights to as many as four of the players they waive at the end of training camp. Still, it appears he’ll have a chance to impress the Magic in NBA training camp and force his way onto the regular season roster.
What do you think Appling’s chances of making the opening night roster are? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Magic Sign Jordan Sibert
SEPTEMBER 24TH, 4:16pm: The signing is official, the team announced in a press release.
AUGUST 29TH, 8:46am: The Magic have agreed to a deal with undrafted free agent guard Jordan Sibert, David Jablonski of The Dayton Daily News reports. The length and terms of the contract are unknown, but it is likely a minimum salary training camp deal, though that is merely my speculation.
Sibert, 23, played in three contests for the Magic’s summer league team in Orlando back in July and averaged 11.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists. He spent his first two collegiate seasons at Ohio State before transferring to Dayton. Sibert’s career NCAA averages are 9.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists to accompany a slash line of .430/.364/.738.
Orlando already has a roster count of 16 players, including 13 with fully guaranteed pacts. The team is especially deep in the backcourt, and Sibert definitely can be considered a longshot to make the regular season roster. It’s quite possible that the team has designs on sending Sibert to its D-League affiliate in Erie for the 2015/16 campaign after getting a look at the guard in training camp, though that is purely speculation.
Wizards To Sign Jaron Johnson For Camp
The Wizards and 23-year-old shooting guard Jaron Johnson have agreed to a non-guaranteed deal for training camp, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Johnson went undrafted out of Louisiana Tech in 2014 and spent last season with the D-League affiliate of the Rockets. Houston also had Johnson on its summer league team this year. Washington already has 15 fully guaranteed contracts plus four additional pacts for camp, so presumably Johnson will round out the team’s training camp roster.
Johnson averaged more minutes per game in the D-League this past season than he did in his final collegiate year, as he put up 15.1 points and 4.5 rebounds with 37.2% three-point shooting in 29.9 MPG for the D-League Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He didn’t shoot as well across the small sample size of five summer league contests, but he was nonetheless a more efficient per-minute scorer than he had been in college.
The Wizards reportedly have two other guards, Ish Smith and Toure’ Murry, on camp deals, along with big men Josh Harrellson and Jaleel Roberts. Washington is without a D-League affiliate, so Johnson wouldn’t have a way to stay in the team’s system if the Wizards cut him at the end of the preseason, which seems likely.