Lakers Sign Jonathan Holmes
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, 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, 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, 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
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
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.
Celtics, Malcolm Miller Agree To Camp Deal
SATURDAY, 10:23am: The signing has occurred, according to the RealGM transactions log, though there has been no official announcement made by the team.
4:30pm: Miller’s deal will be partially guaranteed for $25k, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
FRIDAY, 2:27pm: The Celtics will bring summer-leaguer and former Holy Cross small forward Malcolm Miller to training camp on a one-year deal for the minimum salary, a league source tells Kevin O’Connor of SB Nation’s CelticsBlog. The arrangement will be non-guaranteed, O’Connor adds. It gives the Celtics contracts or verbal agreements with 21 players in the wake of the news earlier today that Coty Clarke will also sign a camp deal. Teams may only carry as many as 20 signed contracts during the offseason, but Boston reportedly intends to offload Zoran Dragic.
Miller averaged just 4.0 points and 12.1 minutes per game across seven appearances for the summer league Celtics, but he canned five of his six three-point attempts during that span. He was a 39.3% three-point shooter over his last two college seasons, and he put up 14.7 PPG in 31.7 MPG as a senior for the Crusaders this past year. The 22-year-old worked out for the Celtics and Jazz prior to this year’s draft, but he wasn’t selected on draft night.
At 6’7″, Miller carries much the same profile as does Clarke, who spent last season playing in Israel. Still, both face steep climbs to make the opening night roster for Boston, which has 17 fully guaranteed contracts, including Dragic’s. Shooting guards Corey Walden from Eastern Kentucky and Levi Randolph from Alabama are reportedly set to join Miller and Clarke in Celtics camp, with all four of them candidates to end up on Boston’s D-League affiliate. The C’s can protect the D-League rights to as many as four camp cuts. Still, it’s not surprising to see the Celtics, who are heavily loaded with point guards and big men, concentrate on wing players as they build their preseason roster, so that offers a glimmer of hope that one of them can stick for the regular season.
Which camp invitee do you think has the best chance of playing NBA regular season games for the Celtics or another team? Leave a comment to let us know.
Olivier Hanlan Signs Overseas Pact
Olivier Hanlan, the No. 42 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft by the Jazz, has signed a deal with the Lithuanian club Zalgiris Kaunas, the team announced (translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). The pact is for two years and includes an option for the second season, though it is unclear if that is a team or player option.
If the Jazz are to retain Hanlan’s NBA rights, the team will need to extend him at least a one-year, non-guaranteed contract offer. Hanlan is not required to sign the agreement for Utah to hold onto the point guard’s rights, and he would become a draft-and-stash player as a result.
The 22-year-old appeared in 32 contests for Boston College last season and averaged 19.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists. His slash line was .454/.353/.759.
Spurs To Sign Keifer Sykes
The Spurs have agreed to a deal with undrafted guard Keifer Sykes, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). The length and terms of the agreement are not yet known, but it is likely a minimum salary training camp deal, though that is merely my speculation. Sykes played in the Las Vegas Summer League for the Cavaliers, averaging 9.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists on 51.4% shooting.
San Antonio currently has a roster count of 17 players, including 13 fully guaranteed pacts, making Sykes a longshot to remain on the team’s roster past opening night. The Spurs may have designs on sending Sykes to the D-League next season, as teams can retain the rights for up to four players.
The 21-year-old played his college ball for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, making 33 appearances as a Senior, and notching averages of 18.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists. His slash line was .452/.311/.780.
Nuggets Re-Sign Darrell Arthur
3:27pm: The deal is official, the Nuggets announced.
2:46pm: The Nuggets and Darrell Arthur have reached agreement on a two-year deal that includes a player option on the final season, reports Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post (Twitter link). Arthur had been expected to re-sign since late last month, as Dempsey wrote more than two weeks ago, but the sides had yet to agree to terms. The Nuggets renounced their Bird rights to the Jerry Hicks client last month, so they’ll have to use cap space or the $2.814MM room exception to give Arthur more than the minimum. Denver doesn’t have enough cap room at present to formally sign Arthur, who made in excess of $3.457MM last season, for more than that room exception amount, so today’s news would appear to be further indication that Kostas Papanikolaou‘s non-guaranteed contract has a tenuous place on the roster, at best.
Arthur and the Clippers reportedly had mutual interest, though L.A. is limited to giving the minimum salary to outside free agents, as I noted earlier today. The Pistons and Wizards were also apparently interested early last month, but Washington is similarly cash-strapped and Detroit only has the room exception to spend.
The 27-year-old veteran of seven NBA seasons has been steady over his two years in Denver as a rotation-caliber reserve, averaging 6.2 points and 3.0 rebounds in 17.1 minutes. His greatest contributions come on defense, as he’s been perhaps the team’s best on that end of the court, and in the locker room, Dempsey writes in a full story. He’ll again face a tough challenge for minutes on a roster that also features Kenneth Faried and J.J. Hickson at his position.
Papanikolaou plays power forward, too, but his $4.798MM non-guaranteed contract, which Denver acquired in the Ty Lawson trade, has value as a trade chip or as a gateway to cap space if the Nuggets waive him. Denver has 14 guaranteed contracts plus Papanikolaou and a partially guaranteed deal with Erick Green, so not everyone will make Denver’s regular season roster.
Do you think the deal with Arthur makes sense for the Nuggets? How about for Arthur? Leave a comment to let us know.