Sixers Sign Kendall Marshall
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 5:48pm: The signing is official, the team announced in a press release.
SEPTEMBER 4TH, 5:34pm: The Sixers are set to sign unrestricted free agent point guard Kendall Marshall, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports. The deal is said to be a multiyear arrangement, and Marshall’s salary for the 2015/16 campaign will be fully guaranteed, Wojnarowski adds. Philadelphia currently has a roster count of 19 players, though only 12 possess fully guaranteed deals.
The addition of Marshall comes as little surprise, with Michael Kaskey-Blomain of ESPN’s TrueHoop Network first reporting Philly’s interest in the point guard, and Jake Fischer of SI Now first reported that Marshall had been working out with the Sixers at their practice facility over the past few days. Marshall is still recovering from a torn ACL, and he is expected to be ready to return to action sometime during the first half of the upcoming season, league sources have informed the Yahoo scribe.
Marshall’s 2014/15 campaign was cut short when he tore his right ACL in January while playing for the Bucks, who had made the unusual move of guaranteeing his non-guaranteed salary before the season, more than two months before they needed to make a decision on the matter. The 24-year-old made 28 appearances for Milwaukee prior to his injury, and he averaged 4.2 points, 1.0 rebound, and 3.1 assists in 14.9 minutes per contest. His career numbers through parts of three NBA seasons are 5.3 PPG, 1.7 RPG, and 5.4 APG to go along with a slash line of .405/.377/.593.
Magic Close To Deal With Greg Stiemsma
The Magic are close to reaching an agreement with veteran center Greg Stiemsma, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reports (on Twitter). The length and terms of the proposed pact are unknown, though it is likely a minimum salary training camp deal, and Wolfson does note that it would be a non-guaranteed contract.
Stiemsma, 29, appeared in 17 contests for the Raptors in 2014/15, averaging 0.8 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 0.2 assists in 3.9 minutes per contest. His career numbers through 203 games are 3.2 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 1.1 BPG to accompany a slash line of .509/.000/.705.
Orlando currently has a roster count of 17 players, including 13 with fully guaranteed pacts. The Magic could certainly benefit from adding some depth at the pivot, with Dewayne Dedmon and Jason Smith being the primary backups to starter Nikola Vucevic.
Lakers Sign Marcelo Huertas
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1:29pm: The deal is official, the Lakers announced.
AUGUST 31ST, 3:54pm: The Lakers and Brazilian point guard Marcelo Huertas have come to terms on a one-year deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). Ismail Senol of the Turkish outlet NTV SPOR had reported earlier today that Huertas would sign with a Western Conference team (Twitter link; translation via Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi). Huertas had reportedly agreed to a deal with Galatasaray of Turkey, but he asked for more time to scan NBA interest, as Cauchi relays via Senol.
Wojnarowski first reported four months ago that Huertas was planning to sign with an NBA team this year and that he was expected to draw aggressive pursuit from teams seeking a backup. The 6’3″ Huertas, who turned 32 in May, seemed to change his mind shortly thereafter, but agent Gerard Darnes said a month ago that Huertas was still focused on landing an NBA deal and that Octagon colleague Alex Saratsis continued to negotiate toward that end on his behalf.
Huertas went undrafted back in 2005 and has played each season since in Spain, save for a year in Italy. He’s been a mainstay for FC Barcelona the past four seasons, and he averaged 7.7 points, 4.3 assists and 1.8 turnovers in 21.1 minutes per game in 2014/15.
It’s unclear whether the Lakers are exceeding the rookie minimum of $525,093 for Huertas, though that’s often required to convince European players to sign stateside. If that’s the case, the Lakers have their $2.814MM to dip into. They only have 12 fully guaranteed contracts, as our roster count shows, so there’s plenty of roster flexibility and a decent chance for Huertas to stick for opening night if he isn’t the 13th Laker with a guaranteed deal.
The Lakers are taking some risks this offseason. What do you think of their approach? Leave a comment to tell us.
Cavs Sign Sasha Kaun
10:05am: Windhorst pegs the total value at $2.6MM (Twitter link).
9:42am: The two-year package is worth $2.5MM total, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 9:35am: The deal is official, the team announced. Kaun will make $1.2MM this season, as Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote recently.
7:38pm: Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com hears that the second year is not a player option, in contrast to what sources told Windhorst (Twitter link).
6:40pm: The contract gives Kaun a player option for the second year, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com.
AUGUST 22ND, 4:44pm: Kaun and the Cavs have reached an agreement on a two-year pact, international journalist David Pick reports (via Twitter).
AUGUST 17TH, 4:09pm: Draft-and-stash center Sasha Kaun appears on his way to the Cavaliers for this season, as a source tells Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com that “it’s only a matter of time” before a deal is done. Kaun and the Cavs had reportedly engaged in talks last month, and GM David Griffin confirmed the team’s interest in bringing the big man aboard for this coming season. Griffin pointed to finances as a concern, and while every dollar the Cavs spend this season will likely entail multiple additional dollars going out in tax penalties, Kaun downplayed any financial hurdles. Still, no deal is imminent, and Kaun, who’s in Cleveland this week to house hunt, among other pursuits, is scheduled to leave town Tuesday, and the sides probably won’t have an agreement in place by then, Haynes writes.
The Cavs can offer no more than the $1.276MM sliver of the mid-level exception they have left over after signing Mo Williams to his deal earlier this summer, and that’s much less than the $2.9MM he had been making for Russia’s CSKA Moscow. Using the balance of that exception on Kaun would also make it virtually impossible for Cleveland to offer a market-rate deal to Cedi Osman, whom the Cavs drafted No. 31 overall this year.
The 30-year-old Kaun, who played collegiately at Kansas, was the 56th overall pick in 2008. The Cavs have seemingly been giving thought to bringing him aboard for the season ahead since at least this past March. Cleveland reportedly had talks with the Nets about trading Kaun’s rights to Brooklyn, but it looks like the Cavs won’t be dealing him away. Cleveland has plenty of room on its roster, as Sunday’s apparent deal with Jared Cunningham gives the team contracts or verbal agreements with only 12 players. Re-signing Tristan Thompson remains the focus for the Cavs, Haynes notes.
Do you think Kaun is the right fit for one of the final roster spots on the Cavs? Leave a comment to tell us.
Cavaliers To Sign D.J. Stephens
High-flying swingman D.J. Stephens has agreed to a training camp deal with the Cavaliers, a league source tells Hoops Rumors. Stephens appeared in three contests for the Bucks while on a 10-day contract in 2013/14 and he’ll now look to get back to NBA action with Cleveland in 2015/16.
Last fall, Stephens inked a non-guaranteed minimum-salary camp deal with the Pelicans and was among the team’s final cuts about a week before Halloween. In December, the Keith Kreiter client signed on with Russia’s Zenit St. Petersburg, where he enjoyed a starting role. In 31 games (28 starts) between the VTB United League and Eurocup play, the 24-year-old averaged 7.0 points and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 57.7% from the floor in 22.7 minutes per game. The defensive specialist also tallied 21 steals and 26 blocks over the course of 31 appearances last year.
Stephens went undrafted out of the University of Memphis in 2013, even though his 46-inch vertical leap at the draft combine set an all-time record that still stands, as DraftExpress shows. He never averaged double figures in points during his four years at Memphis, but he used his athleticism on the other end of the floor, winning the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year award in his senior season. In 2013/14, the strong defender played in 25 combined games with Ilisiakos BC of Greece and Anadolu Efes of Turkey and averaged 8.4 PPG and 7.0 RPG in 23.8 MPG.
Cavs Expected To Bring Quinn Cook To Camp
SEPTEMBER 7TH, 4:23pm: The Cavs are expected to sign Cook for camp, but they’ve yet to finalize a deal, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders.
11:35am: Cook hasn’t agreed to any deal yet, though the idea of joining the Cavs isn’t off the table, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links). Cleveland has made an offer, but he’s considering it along with offers from others, Kyler also tweets.
AUGUST 18TH, 10:03am: The Cavaliers have agreed to sign undrafted point guard Quinn Cook to a non-guaranteed deal for training camp, reports Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com. He joins Jared Cunningham among those who’ll reportedly join the Cavs for camp, and Cleveland is also apparently likely to sign draft-and-stash center Sasha Kaun. The formal addition of all three would bring the Cavs roster to 14 players, not including Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith, who linger in free agency.
Cook was a mainstay over four years at Duke and flourished as a senior, averaging 15.3 points, 2.6 assists and 1.2 turnovers in 35.8 minutes per game. He played off the ball this past season next to Tyus Jones, who was this year’s 24th overall pick even though he saw fewer minutes per contest than the undrafted Cook. The seemingly superior upside of Jones, who was a freshman in 2014/15, carries appeal, though Cook is still only 22 years old.
The Jim Tanner client split summer league between the Thunder and the Cavs, averaging 7.9 PPG, 3.3 APG and 1.8 TOPG in 18.5 MPG across nine appearances overall. Cook told Zach Links of Hoops Rumors prior to the draft that he was working to become a better finisher, defender, and shooter off the dribble.
J.P. Tokoto Takes Required Tender From Sixers
Sixers second-round pick J.P. Tokoto has signed a one-year, non-guaranteed deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. Wojnarowski refers to it as a “$525,000 tender offer,” so it would appear that this year’s No. 58 overall selection signed his $525,093 required tender that the Sixers needed to offer him to retain his rights. Philadelphia has yet to make an official announcement. It would be the second offseason in a row that a second-round pick of the Sixers has taken the required tender route after K.J. McDaniels did the same a year ago. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer first reported last month that Tokoto would head to Sixers camp one way or another.
The Sixers have made it a habit to use their cap space to sign prospects to long-term partially guaranteed deals that tie up the rights to players for as many as four years. Still, it’s unclear if the Sixers had designs on signing Tokoto at all this year, as he’d reportedly told them before the draft that he would be open to becoming a draft-and-stash pick. However, a later report indicated that he had no intention of playing this season in the D-League or overseas, so perhaps his thinking changed. In any case, both Philadelphia and Tokoto assume risk, since the Sixers would lose his rights if they waive him at the end of camp and Tokoto would be without any NBA money in that circumstance.
Tokoto, a client of Steve McCaskill, is betting on his ability to quickly establish his footing in the NBA. McDaniels wound up with a three-year, $10MM contract from the Rockets in restricted free agency this summer, and Tokoto is surely dreaming of a similar fate should he stick on his Sixers deal all season, since he, too, would have a crack at restricted free agency after only one season. However, Tokoto doesn’t have the pedigree of McDaniels, a fringe first-round prospect who was the No. 32 pick a year ago. Tokoto, a 6’6″ shooting guard from North Carolina, was the 46th-best prospect at draft time this year, according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com had him at No. 52.
Ford called him one of the best wing defenders in the draft, and that’s in contrast to his offensive shortcomings. Tokoto averaged just 8.3 points in 29.1 minutes per game for the Tar Heels this past season, and though he shot 37.1% from behind the arc, he followed that up with an 0 for 10 performance from three-point range in summer league. He’s nonetheless a strong rebounder for his size, having come away with 5.6 boards per game for North Carolina this year.
Philadelphia has been active in recent days, agreeing to deals with Kendall Marshall and undrafted power forward Christian Wood. The Sixers reportedly have signed contracts or deals with 21 players, as I examined in this post, so either one of the deals is off, or the team will have to waive or trade somebody before the start of training camp later this month.
Do you think Tokoto is wise to bet on himself like this? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Cavaliers To Sign Jerrelle Benimon For Camp
Jerrelle Benimon has agreed to a training camp deal with the Cavaliers, tweets Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor. Benimon spent most of last season with the D-League’s Idaho Stampede, where he averaged 19.8 points, 11 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 44 games (Twitter link).
Benimon signed a 10-day contract with the Jazz in March and appeared in two games, going scoreless but collecting three rebounds in three minutes of playing time. After going undrafted last year, he signed with the Nuggets in September, but was waived during training camp.
The signing of Benimon, who played for Cleveland’s summer league team, brings the Cavs’ camp total to 15 players, not counting Tristan Thompson, who is still unsigned. Thirteen have fully guranteed contracts, while Jared Cunningham’s is non-guaranteed.
Heat Sign Greg Whittington For Camp
THURSDAY, 2:21pm: The deal is official, the Heat announced.
TUESDAY, 9:01am: The Heat and undrafted small forward Greg Whittington have reached agreement on a one-year, non-guaranteed deal, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The 22-year-old from Georgetown had three partially guaranteed offers from NBA teams last month, as Charania reported then, so it’s surprising to see him take one without a guarantee, even though he played for Miami’s summer league squad. Still, the Heat seem to offer him a decent shot at the regular season roster, since they have only 13 fully guaranteed deals.
Whittington was a longshot for the draft, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranked him as only the 108th-best prospect. He nonetheless looked sharp during the Las Vegas summer league, averaging 13.0 points and 8.2 rebounds in 30.3 minutes per contest while nailing eight of 17 three-pointers in five appearances after a so-so four-game stint for the Heat in the Orlando summer league. He had seen limited action since an ACL injury to his left knee during the summer of 2013. Academic trouble clouded his time at Georgetown, and after his dismissal from the school, he joined the Westchester Knicks, though he never appeared in a game.
Tyler Johnson would appear to have the inside track on the 14th regular season roster spot for Miami, since he has a partial guarantee worth half of his minimum salary, but James Ennis, Keith Benson and Corey Hawkins all have non-guaranteed pacts. So, Whittington will ostensibly compete with that trio to make it to opening night.
Going into camp, who do you think is the favorite for the Heat’s last regular season roster spot? Leave a comment to let us know.
Cavs Re-Sign J.R. Smith
SEPTEMBER 2ND, 6:00pm: The deal is official, the Cavaliers announced.
8:56pm: The deal is for two years and includes a player option for 2016/17, and Smith will earn approximately $5MM this season, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group tweets.
AUGUST 20TH, 8:36pm: It appears that unrestricted free agent J.R. Smith is set to re-sign with the Cavaliers, with the player taking to his personal Instagram account to relay the news. It is unclear what the length and terms of Smith’s deal with the team are. The Cavs reportedly wanted Smith back on a modest one-year deal, as Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer wrote last month, and Smith had been seeking a three-year deal, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group.
Smith wrote, “Happy to say that I am returning to the Cavs! It’s been a long ride this summer but I can say for sure, well worth the wait. When I opted out of my contract, I wanted to understand the landscape of the NBA and where I fit best. The Cavaliers had things they needed to do in order to piece together a championship caliber roster. I ended up deciding that instead of potentially securing a larger deal elsewhere, I wanted to rejoin an incredible organization in pursuit of the ultimate goal, an NBA championship. Thank you to the Cavaliers for making this happen. Can’t wait to get started!
The Cavs are about $4MM above the tax threshold for now, but they still haven’t re-signed Tristan Thompson, a move that they still appear likely to make. A deal around the max for Thompson would mean Smith’s contract would cost the Cavs $3.75 or more in tax penalties for every dollar it’s worth. Smith had declined his one-year, $6.4MM player option for the upcoming season.
Smith, 29, averaged 12.7 points per game and shot 39% from three-point range during the regular season with the Cavs after being acquired from the Knicks. The guard’s career numbers through 11 NBA seasons are 13.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists to go along with a slash line of .424/.372/.737.