Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Celtics Waive Babb, Johnson

September 25th, 2014 at 8:49pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Celtics have waived Chris Babb and Chris Johnson, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com reports (Twitter link). The team has confirmed the moves via a press release. Neither of the players’ deals carried any guaranteed money for the 2014/15 season.

These releases came in the wake of the deal that sent Keith Bogans and two future conditional Sacramento second round picks to the Cavaliers for Dwight Powell, John Lucas III, Malcolm Thomas, Erik Murphy, and Cleveland’s second-rounders in 2016 and 2017. The Celtics still have deals with 22 players, including Evan Turner, whose deal has not been officially announced yet, so they will still have to clear two more players prior to training camp beginning.

The 24 year-old Babb appeared in 14 games for Boston last season, averaging 1.6 PPG and 1.2 RPG in 9.4 minutes per night. Johnson, also 24 years old, played in 40 contest for the Celtics last season, putting up 6.3 PPG and grabbing 2.4 RPG while averaging 19.7 minutes per.

Cavs Acquire Keith Bogans

September 25th, 2014 at 8:25pm CST by Eddie Scarito

8:25pm: The trade is official, the Celtics announced via a press release.

8:20pm: More details about the trade are rolling in, with Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link) noting that the Celtics sent the Cavs the rights to the Kings’ 2015 and 2017 second-rounders, both of which are top-55 protected. Marc Stein of ESPN.com also adds Dwight Powell to the list of players heading to Boston.

8:00pm: The second-rounders going to the Celtics will be Cleveland’s 2016 and 2017 selections, notes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link).

7:41pm: The Celtics will also get a $5.3MM trade exception as part of the deal, notes Goodman (twitter link).

7:20pm: The Cavs will waive guard Chris Crawford once the deal is official, tweets Chris Haynes of The Plain Dealer.

7:16pm: The Celtics are also receiving two second round draft picks as part of the deal, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).

6:52pm: The Cavaliers and Celtics are in discussions on a trade that would send Keith Bogans to Cleveland, Marc Stein of ESPN.com is reporting. The Cavs are expected to package the non-guaranteed contracts of Erik Murphy, John Lucas III and Malcolm Thomas in return for Bogans, notes Stein.

The acquisition of the 34 year-old shooting guard out of Kentucky would suggest that Cleveland has either received word from free agent Ray Allen that he isn’t interested in signing with the team, or that he intends to retire, though that’s just speculation on my part. Whatever the case is, it would seem that Bogans is taking the role that the Cavs were intending Allen to fill.

Bogans has played 11 seasons in the league after being selected in the second round of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Bucks. His career numbers are 6.3 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.3 APG. Bogans’ career slash line is .394/.353/.716. He has two years remaining on his contract, both non-guaranteed, and he is scheduled to make $5,285,816 this coming season.

As for the Celtics, they currently have 21 players on their roster, including Evan Turner, whose signing has not been officially announced yet. So it’s highly likely that Boston will waive all three players once the deal is completed.

Cavs Waive Chris Crawford

September 25th, 2014 at 8:19pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Cavaliers have waived Chris Crawford, according to the RealGM transactions log. Chris Haynes of The Plain Dealer was the first to report that Cleveland intended to waive the player (Twitter link). Crawford’s two year deal he signed just under two weeks ago included a guarantee of $20K for this season, but his 2015/16 salary was non-guaranteed.

This move comes on the heels of the Cavs acquiring Keith Bogans from the Celtics, which made Crawford expendable at the shooting guard position. The Cavs will have 16 players remaining on their roster after parting with Dwight Powell, John Lucas III, Erik Murphy, and Malcolm Thomas.

The 6’4″, 22 year-old Crawford went undrafted out of Memphis, where he put up career averages of 8.7 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 3.3 APG. His career slash line was .391/.367/.753.

No Deal For Sixers, Drew Gordon

September 25th, 2014 at 5:56pm CST by Eddie Scarito

SEPTEMBER 29TH: Gordon is not among the players listed on the preseason roster the team sent via press release, so presumably the deal is off.

SEPTEMBER 25TH: The Sixers and power forward Drew Gordon have agreed to a deal, Orazio Cauchi of Sportando reports. Length and terms of the agreement were not disclosed but it’s likely a non-guaranteed training camp invite for the 6’8″, 24 year-old out of New Mexico. This signing would put Philadelphia’s preseason roster count at 19, with only eight of those deals being fully guaranteed, and four others carrying partial guarantees.

Gordon went undrafted in 2012 after splitting his college time between UCLA and New Mexico. His career numbers were 10.0 PPG and 8.0 RPG. His career slash line was .541/.500/.689. He played for Philadelphia in this year’s Las Vegas Summer League where he averaged 6.6 PPG in six appearances.

The Sixers roster is wide open with the team having purged itself of most of its veteran talent, so there is a chance that Gordon could make it onto the opening night roster. The starter at power forward figures to be either Nerlens Noel, if he doesn’t man the pivot, or Luc Mbah a Moute. Gordon will be competing with Arnett Moultrie and Jarvis Varnado for minutes as a backup.

No Camp Deal For Nets, Michael Jenkins

September 25th, 2014 at 4:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

SEPTEMBER 25TH, 4:01pm: The Nets released their training camp roster today, and Jenkins’ name isn’t on it, so presumably he won’t be with the team.

JULY 21ST, 1:21pm: Shooting guard Michael Jenkins has accepted a training camp invitation from the Nets, agent Daniel Moldovan of Entersport tweets (hat tip to Sportando’s Enea Trapani). The deal is likely the standard non-guaranteed one-year deal for the minimum salary that most camp invitees receive.

The 6’4″ shooting guard had his first taste of NBA experience this month with Brooklyn’s summer league team, having pursued his career overseas since going undrafted out of Winthrop in 2008. He averaged 6.8 points in 15.7 minutes per game across five summer league contests for the Nets, and this past season he averaged 10.3 PPG and 25.9 MPG with 39.9% three-point shooting for Pallacanestro Cantu of Italy.

It appears for now that he’ll stand a puncher’s chance of making the opening-night roster for Brooklyn, which has 12 players under contract, including free agent signee Alan Anderson. Bojan Bogdanovic seems destined to become the 13th, leaving Jenkins to compete with Markel Brown, Xavier Thames and Cory Jefferson, Brooklyn’s trio of second-round picks from last month.

Jazz Sign Dahntay Jones

September 25th, 2014 at 2:33pm CST by Chuck Myron

THURSDAY, 2:33pm: The deal is official, the team announced.

TUESDAY, 8:29am: The contract is for the minimum salary and covers just one year, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).

MONDAY, 9:02pm: Jones has signed with the team, according to the RealGM transactions log. This presumably means he’s passed his physical and that the team has yet to make a formal announcement.

4:51pm: It’s a non-guaranteed deal, according to Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. Dahntay Jones is taking his physical for the team today, the Tribune scribe adds, clarifying that the pact is not yet official. (Twitter links).

1:07pm: The Jazz have a deal with 10-year NBA veteran swingman Dahntay Jones, according to Jones’ representatives at Priority Sports (Twitter link). The tweet indicates that Jones has signed a contract with the club, but the Jazz have yet to make an official announcement. In any case, several NBA teams had reportedly been in pursuit of the 33-year-old this summer, and the Jazz had the flexibility necessary to give him more than the minimum if that’s what it took. The terms are nonetheless unclear.

The Knicks and Sixers were to have worked out Jones this summer, and the Clippers reportedly met with him. Observers from roughly half the league were apparently in attendance for a workout that the Mark Bartelstein client staged in Las Vegas. He spent this past season out of the NBA, the first time he went without a deal in the Association since he went 20th overall in the 2003 draft.

The Jazz had been carrying 13 fully guaranteed deals, while Dee Bost, Jack Cooley, Kevin Murphy and Toure’ Murry all have partially guaranteed arrangements. Just how much guaranteed money Jones has in his deal will likely dictate his chances of making the opening-night roster.

Grizzlies Officially Sign Beasley, Five Others

September 25th, 2014 at 2:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Grizzlies formally announced the signings of Michael Beasley, Patrick Christopher, Earl Clark, Luke Hancock, Kalin Lucas and Hassan Whiteside via press release. The moves had been expected for all six, since each was reported to have come to terms on a deal with the team.

All six are on non-guaranteed contracts. The Grizzlies have the capacity to give more than the rookie minimum to Chrisopher, Hancock and Lucas, but it’s likely they’ve received minimum-salary arrangements just like the veteran additions for camp.

Beasley probably has the inside track for joining the team’s 14 players on fully guaranteed pacts for opening night, though Clark plays the same positions and looms as a threat should Beasley falter.

Kings Waive Alonzo Gee

September 25th, 2014 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Kings have waived swingman Alonzo Gee, the team announced. The move is no shock, since he was due a non-guaranteed $3MM for the coming season, and he came to the team in the Jason Terry trade that appeared to be primarily about clearing space beneath the tax threshold from Sacramento’s perspective.

Gee has been a member of four NBA teams this offseason, largely shadowing the path of Scotty Hopson, who passed through the hands of five clubs. The Cavs, who originally signed him to his three-year deal in 2012, traded him to the Pelicans, who flipped him to Houston in the Omer Asik trade. The 6’6″ Gee started all 82 games for the Cavs in 2012/13, but he made just 24 starts last season, and his efficiency declined when he did see the floor. His 8.6 PER this past year was his first single-digit mark in that category in his five NBA seasons.

Sacramento has deals with 18 players in the wake of Gee’s release, which leaves room for the team to sign two more for training camp. The team had been less than $1MM shy of tax territory after striking a deal with Omri Casspi earlier in the offseason, but a series of moves has left the Kings with only about $71MM in guaranteed salaries, well short of the $76.829MM tax threshold.

Pistons Sign Brian Cook For Camp

September 25th, 2014 at 12:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pistons have signed nine-year NBA veteran big man NBA Brian Cook, the team announced via press release. The release also officially announces the signings of Hasheem Thabeet, Lorenzo Brown and Josh Bostic, who’d reportedly reached deals earlier with the team. The Pistons have the capacity to give Cook more than the minimum, but it’s unlikely that Detroit has done so. It’s unclear if there’s any guaranteed money involved, though the Pistons already have fully guaranteed deals with 16 players.

Cook hasn’t played in a regular season game since splitting the 2011/12 season between the Clippers and Wizards, but he did appear with the Pistons summer league team this past July, averaging 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds in 21.3 minutes per game. He went to training camp with the Wizards in the fall of 2012 and the Jazz last autumn, but he failed to make the opening-night roster both times. The 6’9″ 33-year-old is a career backup in the NBA, never having averaged more than 18.9 MPG in the regular season.

Today’s moves bring the Pistons to 20 players, the preseason maximum. Cook, Thabeet, Brown and Bostic have little shot of making the regular season roster, but coach/executive Stan Van Gundy can retain the D-League rights to some of them for the team’s new one-to-one affiliate in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Nets, Lawrence Frank Reach Buyout Deal

September 25th, 2014 at 9:45am CST by Chuck Myron

The Nets and former assistant coach Lawrence Frank have reached a deal on a buyout that will allow the sides to part ways after a contentious one-year stint, reports Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link). Frank appears headed to the Clippers, as the team is expected to name him one of its assistant coaches in the coming days, according to Dan Woike of the Orange County Register (on Twitter). Brooklyn reassigned Frank in December into a role in which he filed daily reports for the club, in spite of a contract that had called for him to make more than $1MM a year for six seasons as an assistant coach under coaching neophyte Jason Kidd.

The buyout is no surprise, since Frank had reportedly hired “high-powered” attorney David Cornwell to try to negotiate a way out of his deal shortly after his reassignment late last year. It’s unclear whether that sort of legal counsel was ultimately involved in the buyout, but this summer’s departure of Kidd, with whom Frank apparently clashed, didn’t seem to repair the relationship between Frank and the team. Nets GM Billy King said in April that it was his decision, and not Kidd’s, to strip Frank of his coaching duties.

The Clippers have been eyeing Frank for a while, as A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com reported earlier this summer that they were considering him for their staff, and Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com wrote earlier this month that Frank was expected to join the team. Clippers head coach/executive Doc Rivers had reportedly sought Frank as an assistant coach in the summer of 2013, too. Frank served as an assistant under Rivers for the 2010/11 season on the Celtics bench.

The 44-year-old Frank’s greatest success in coaching came in his first stint with the Nets, when he guided the team to the playoffs four straight years as head coach. He also served as a head for the Pistons, and is 279-335 in parts of nine seasons as an NBA head man.