Warriors Sign Ian Clark To Camp Deal
SEPTEMBER 14TH, 5:22pm: Clark has signed with the Warriors, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reveals (Twitter link), though the team hasn’t made an announcement. It’s a non-guaranteed deal that becomes partially guaranteed for $474K if he’s not waived by the end of the day before opening night.
JULY 27TH, 2:38pm: The Warriors have agreed to sign two-year veteran shooting guard Ian Clark, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Golden State and the David Mondress client are still negotiating terms, but Clark has committed to the team, Charania adds. Golden State is limited to paying him the minimum salary, so it would seem the back-and-forth would be over length and the amount of guaranteed money. He became an unrestricted free agent after the Nuggets decided against making a qualifying offer of about $1.147MM.
Clark, 24, had hoped the Nuggets would re-sign him after his summer league performance, in which he averaged 13.4 points per game and made 12 of 24 total three-point attempts, but Denver renounced its rights to him to clear cap room. That didn’t preclude the team from re-signing him, but it did make it seem to make the possibility less likely. Denver claimed him off waivers from the Jazz late last season, apparently with the idea of keeping him for this year, but it appears that plan didn’t work out.
Golden State has 13 guaranteed contracts, leaving room under the 15-man regular season roster limit for the team to give one to Clark. The Warriors have a connection with him that dates back to the Las Vegas Summer League in 2013, when a 33-point outburst in the championship game helped him secure a contract with the Jazz. He’d gone undrafted out of Belmont earlier that summer.
Do you think Ian Clark has a shot to make the rotation for the Warriors this year? Leave a comment to let us know.
Warriors Sign Jarell Eddie To Camp Deal
SEPTEMBER 14TH, 5:15pm: Eddie has a signed contract, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter), though the team has yet to make an announcement. It’s a two-year, minimum-salary arrangement, and it’s non-guaranteed, Pincus says.
AUGUST 21ST, 10:29am: The Warriors and Jarell Eddie have reached agreement on a deal that will bring the one-year veteran to training camp to compete for a spot on the opening night roster, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Eddie, a small forward who went undrafted out of Virginia Tech in 2014, was with the Hawks on a 10-day contract this past spring, though he didn’t appear in a game. The Warriors have only 13 fully guaranteed contracts, as our roster count shows, meaning Eddie will likely compete with James McAdoo, Chris Babb and Ian Clark for a regular season spot.
Eddie, who turns 24 in October, made his mark as a three-point shooter while in the D-League for most of last season, nailing 127 of his 281 in-game attempts, a sizzling 45.2%, for the affiliate of the Spurs. He averaged 12.9 points in 26.2 minutes per game, but nonetheless made only 18 starts in 44 appearances for that team and didn’t receive a call-up to San Antonio. The Spurs and the Pacers both had him on their summer league squads last month, and he continued his sharpshooting, connecting on 46.3% of his 67 shots from behind the arc.
Several NBA teams and clubs from overseas had been in pursuit Eddie, Charania writes in a full story. Golden State would appear to give him a fairly decent chance of sticking for the regular season. McAdoo has only a $100K partial guarantee, while Babb’s deal, which the Warriors acquired in the David Lee trade, is non-guaranteed. The Warriors and Clark, another three-point marksman, were still negotiating the terms of their pact when they committed to each other in late July.
Do you think the Warriors need Eddie’s outside shooting, or should they focus on players with different skills? Leave a comment to tell us.
Bucks Sign John Hammond To Extension
4:58pm: The extension is official, the Bucks announced, confirming that it carries through 2016/17.
12:12pm: The Bucks are extending the contract of GM John Hammond through the 2016/17 season, a source tells Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link). Hammond’s deal was to expire at the end of this coming season. However, the team isn’t retaining assistant GM David Morway, Gardner also reports (on Twitter).
“A great deal of our team’s success and progress is due to the vision and hard work of John,” Bucks owner Wes Edens said, according to Gardner. “He’s assembled a talented and competitive roster and we’re very pleased that he will continue to lead basketball operations.”
Hammond was quoted in a statement about the end of Morway’s time with the team, as Gardner relays. That suggests Hammond played a role in the decision not to bring him back.
Questions have surrounded Hammond’s power in Milwaukee since Edens and partners Marc Lasry and Jamie Dinan purchased the franchise last year. Lasry told Chris Mannix of SI.com in December that he preferred a committee approach and indicated that coach Jason Kidd‘s voice carried just as much weight. The extension means Hammond’s contract will end at the same time as Kidd’s, Gardner notes. Lasry admitted last summer that it was a mistake to keep Hammond out of the loop when the team brought Kidd into the organization. The new owners were non-committal about Hammond when they first bought the team in the spring of 2014, and it was around that time that they held preliminary talks about potential replacements for Hammond and Morway, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe reported then.
Still, the 61-year-old Hammond has remained, and the team’s bounceback season in 2014/15 that included a playoff berth this spring, plus the surprise signing of marquee free agent Greg Monroe, surely had much to do with the team’s willingness to work out an extension. Hammond won the league’s Executive of the Year award in 2010, after his second season in charge of the front office, but the Bucks have yet to equal the 46-36 mark they put up that year, and they haven’t moved past the first round of the playoffs under Hammond’s watch, either.
Morway had spent the last two years in his role with the Bucks after coming over from the Pacers, where he served under Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh, who held the title of president of basketball operations.
Do you think an extension for Hammond is the right move? Leave a comment to let us know.
Pelicans, Chris Douglas-Roberts Agree To Deal
3:16pm: The contract will be non-guaranteed, reports John Reid of The Times Picayune.
1:54pm: The Pelicans and Chris Douglas-Roberts have reached agreement on a two-year deal worth the minimum salary, league sources tell Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported last week that the Pelicans had a keen interest in the free agent small forward.
Douglas-Roberts, 28, sat out the end of last season after the Celtics waived him in January. The Clippers had traded him to Boston shortly before that. The Anthony Jones client had seen little playing time in L.A., which signed him to a guaranteed one-year minimum-salary deal before the 2014/15, when he was coming off a strong performance for Charlotte.
New Orleans has deals with 16 players, including 13 that are fully guaranteed. One-year veteran Sean Kilpatrick and undrafted rookie Bryce Dejean-Jones have partially guaranteed deals, while New Zealand prospect Corey Webster will also reportedly be with the team in camp. All three are wing players, like Douglas-Roberts.
How large a role do you think Douglas-Roberts will play for the Pelicans this season? Leave a comment to let us know.
Lakers Sign Robert Upshaw
SEPTEMBER 14TH, 1:04pm: The deal is finally official, the team announced. Personal issues to which Upshaw was tending had cast uncertainty on whether he would join the team, though the Lakers had left the door open for him to do so, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders recently reported. The team wanted him to accomplish “some offseason off-court goals” related to those personal matters, and today’s announcement is evidence that he’s done so, Pincus tweets.
The Lakers have deals with 18 players, including Upshaw, as our roster count shows. Only 12 of those deals are fully guaranteed, giving Upshaw a decent chance at a regular season roster spot.
JULY 15TH, 12:24pm: Upshaw and Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak will meet Thursday, presumably to hash out details, though the general framework the sides have in place calls for a minimum-salary arrangement, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News details.
JULY 11TH, 8:31am: The Lakers have reached an agreement with center Robert Upshaw on a free agent contract, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group reports (on Twitter). The pact is for two years and includes a partial guarantee for the first season, Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com relays (Twitter link). There is no guaranteed salary for the 2016/17 campaign.
Upshaw went undrafted this year despite possessing lottery-level talent, and he could end up being a steal for the Lakers. He’s certainly a project, but if Los Angeles is able to develop the seven-footer’s potential, Upshaw could provide the team with a solid inside presence for seasons to come. Of course, there is a reason Upshaw went undrafted and was dismissed from both Fresno State as well as the University of Washington. The player has a history of substance abuse that he readily acknowledges, and is struggling to break free of.
The big man spoke with Ricky O’Donnell of SBNation about his well-documented issues, saying, “It’s been a long process. I’ve had a lot of education around drugs and alcohol. A lot of things I’ve been through, I haven’t kept them a secret. I’ve just been working on myself with a team of people that are close to me to have structure and success at the next level.” Upshaw also noted that he’s running out of chances, and that he intends to make the most out of any shot he gets in the NBA, O’Donnell adds. “I realized that I’m 21 years old, I got a family to feed and food is not going to put itself on the table,” said Upshaw. “I have one more opportunity to accomplish my goals and be able to take care of my family. I have one chance and I’m gonna sacrifice and do anything possible.”
In 19 appearances for the Huskies last season Upshaw averaged 10.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.5 blocks in 24.9 minutes per contest. His slash line was .593/.000/.434.
A.J. Price Signs With Chinese Team
SEPTEMBER 11TH, 4:53pm: Price has signed with the Sharks, Pick reports (via Twitter).
SEPTEMBER 5TH, 9:15am: A.J. Price is finalizing a contract to play in China with the Shanghai Sharks, international journalist David Pick tweets.
Pick reported in July that Price was mulling a move overseas and that Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade was a possible destination. The journeyman point guard turned down that offer, which led Red Star, also known as Crvena Zvezda, to a deal with fellow NBA veteran Gal Mekel.
Price played for three NBA teams last season. He appeared in 10 games with the Pacers in November, then was waived late that month. He was claimed by the Cavaliers and played 11 games for the Eastern Conference champions before he was waived in early January. He was out of the league until signing a 10-day contract with the Suns in March. Price came off the bench in five games for Phoenix but the Suns declined to offer him another 10-day contract.
The 28-year-old Price also had a 28-game stint with the Timberwolves in 2013/14 and appeared in 57 games, including 22 starts, for the Wizards in 2012/13. The former University of Connecticut guard began his career with the Pacers in 2009/10 and remained there his first three seasons.
For his career, Price has made 261 NBA appearances and averaged 5.8 points and 2.2 assists in 15.1 minutes. He’s a career 38.0% shooter overall and 31.6% from 3-point range.
Deal Off Between Heat, Briante Weber
1:30pm: The deal is indeed off, since Weber was unable to pass a physical, Winderman writes in a full story.
SEPTEMBER 11TH, 12:33pm: Weber is “still not ready to be signed” as he continues to recover from the knee injury that he suffered on January 31st, his agent told Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel (Twitter links), so presumably the deal is off. His goal is to join the Heat organization eventually, perhaps via the D-League, the agent also said to Winderman. Weber tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus in his right knee while playing for VCU. Weber is a client of Bill Neff of the Saga Sports agency. The Pacers reportedly had interest in him before he struck a deal with the Heat.
SEPTEMBER 3RD, 7:44pm: The Heat have agreed to sign undrafted free agent combo guard Briante Weber, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reports (Twitter link). Charania refers to the pact as a training camp deal, which means that it is likely a minimum salary arrangement that includes little or no guaranteed salary, though that is merely my speculation.
The addition of Weber will give the Heat a roster count of 19 players, which is one below the preseason maximum. Weber is unlikely to make the final cut and remain on the regular season roster, though the team could have an eye on the 22-year-old playing for its D-League affiliate in Sioux Falls.
Weber, a defensive specialist, played his collegiate ball for VCU, and averaged 8.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 3.9 steals in 26.5 minutes per contest as a Senior. His career collegiate numbers are 6.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3.0 APG, and 2.9 SPG to go along with a slash line of .426/.274/.769.
Mitchell, Newton To Fill In For Ailing Saunders
FRIDAY, 10:14am: Saunders recently experienced complications related to treatments that he’s completed for his cancer, and he’s undergoing tests and treatment at a Minnesota hospital, the team announced via press release, adding that GM Milt Newton will take on an expanded role in the front office while Saunders recovers. The team also confirmed that Mitchell will serve as interim head coach. Wolves CEO Rob Moor says the timetable for the return of Saunders, who is taking what the team calls a leave of absence, is a matter of months, not weeks, tweets Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune.
“First and foremost, my immediate concern is for the Saunders family and the health of Flip,” owner Glen Taylor said in the team’s statement. “Our priority right now is for him to regain his strength so that he can be 100 percent when he returns to his Timberwolves duties. In the interim, I remain confident in the direction of our team. I have known Sam Mitchell for a number of years, back to his playing days in Minnesota. He is a former NBA Head Coach of the Year. I have no doubt he will get the most out of our players and will continue to serve as a great mentor to our young and talented players as interim head coach.”
Newton, also quoted in the release from the team, expressed confidence in Mitchell and said he doesn’t anticipate a change in the team’s basketball philosophy, and Mitchell conveyed similar sentiments in his contribution to the statement and in his comments during today’s press conference, as the Wolves relay via Twitter.
THURSDAY, 3:03pm: The Timberwolves will soon name assistant coach Sam Mitchell as interim head coach while Flip Saunders continues to battle cancer, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Saunders had planned to stay in his dual jobs of head coach and president of basketball operations despite his treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, but it appears that plan has changed. Hope exists for Saunders to return to the bench at some point this season, Wojnarowski adds (on Twitter).
Saunders, 60, has a career regular season coaching record of 654-592 that he compiled as head man of the Timberwolves, Pistons, and Wizards. His career regular season mark in Minnesota is 427-392, and his Timberwolves teams have gone 17-30 in the postseason.
Mitchell has previous head coaching experience, having spent four plus seasons as coach of the Raptors from 2004/05 through part of the 2008/09 campaign. He won the Coach of the Year award in 2006/07, when the Raptors went 47-35 and won the Atlantic Division. Through 345 regular season games Mitchell has compiled a mark of 156-189, and he owns a lackluster 3-8 postseason mark. He had previously interviewed for the head coaching job with the Wolves, and he is reportedly a favorite of owner Glen Taylor after having spent 10 seasons with the franchise as a player. The 52-year-old’s most important task this season as coach will be to continue developing Minnesota’s wealth of young talent.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
Knicks Ink Wesley Saunders
SEPTEMBER 10TH, 4:10pm: The Knicks have announced that the signing is official.
JULY 29TH, 8:06am: The partial guarantee will be worth no more than $75K, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post.
JULY 24TH, 8:16pm: The Knicks continue to fill out their roster, and are closing in on an agreement with undrafted free agent Wesley Saunders, league sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM.com (Twitter link). The full contract details are unknown at this juncture, but Charania notes the pact will include a partial guarantee.
New York could be hoping to catch lightning in a bottle for a second time by adding another former Harvard guard to its roster. Jeremy Lin had previously parlayed a successful 35 game run with the Knicks during the 2011/12 campaign into a multiyear deal from the Rockets. The addition of Saunders provides some much needed depth to the Knicks’ backcourt, though he’ll still likely be a longshot to make the regular season roster.
In 30 appearances last season for the Crimson, the 22-year-old averaged 16.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in 34.4 minutes per contest. Saunders’ career numbers at Harvard were 12.6 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 3.2 APG to go along with a slash line of .481/.402/.755.
The Knicks were one of the teams on the predraft workout docket for Saunders, as he told Zach Links of Hoops Rumors. The Ivy League prospect spoke to Zach about several topics, including what it was like to balance Harvard academics with basketball.
Knicks Sign Darion Atkins
SEPTEMBER 10TH, 4:08pm: The signing is official, the Knicks have announced.
AUGUST 7TH, 2:40pm: Atkins has signed the deal, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post, though the team has yet to make an official announcement (Twitter link). That’s expected to happen next week, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com.
JULY 24TH, 5:57pm: The Knicks intend to sign undrafted forward Darion Atkins, Shlomo Sprung of SheridanHoops reports (via Twitter). The length and terms of the agreement are not yet known, but Sprung indicates the contract will include a partial guarantee.
The former Virginia Cavalier made 33 appearances during the 2014/15 campaign, averaging 7.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks. His slash line was .511/.000/.520. Atkins’ career numbers in four NCAA seasons were 4.4 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 0.8 BPG.
It is certainly a bit surprising to see team president Phil Jackson adding more depth at forward when the roster currently has only four backcourt players signed to deals. Atkins will join a crowded frontcourt in New York, and he’s likely a longshot to stick with the team when the regular season commences. The Knicks already have Kyle O’Quinn, Derrick Williams, Kristaps Porzingis, Louis Amundson, Cleanthony Early, and Lance Thomas available to play power forward, and Carmelo Anthony will likely see some minutes at the four as well.