Point Guard Rumors: Tinsley, Jazz, Mo Williams
Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld has passed along a few tidbits of free agent information related to the point guard market this morning, so let's round up the highlights….
- The Mavericks, Rockets, Bobcats, and Suns have all expressed interest in signing Jamaal Tinsley, tweets Kennedy.
- Tinsley spent last season in Utah, but after reaching an agreement with John Lucas III, the Jazz are no longer interested in bringing back Tinsley, according to Kennedy (Twitter link).
- Mo Williams is considering taking a discount to join a contending team like the Heat or Spurs, says Kennedy (via Twitter). No deal is imminent, but it's one potential option Williams is weighing.
- Earlier today, we heard that the Suns may have put Kendall Marshall on the trade block.
Odds & Ends: Howard, Bogut, Jennings, Jazz
Here's tonight's look around the Association..
- With a difficult free agent process behind him, Dwight Howard is ready to begin his new chapter with the Rockets, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
- Andrew Bogut was on the trading block this summer, and while reports indicated he was upset with his inclusion in rumors, the big man expressed no hard feelings when he spoke with Warriors GM Bob Myers, as Myers tells Lang Greene of HoopsWorld.
- Steve Aschburner of NBA.com argues that both the Bucks and Brandon Jennings would be better off if he accepted his qualifying offer. Doing so would give Jennings unrestricted free agency in 2014, and the motivation of a walk year could spur improvement that benefits the Bucks.
- Jared Zwerling of ESPNNew York.com (on Twitter) hears from league insiders that play in the Las Vegas summer league is more intense than usual as roster spots and financial flexibility are tighter in this free agent market. Teams seem to be waiting longer to fill out their rosters.
- Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson and Brandon Rush are heading to the Jazz because they made a transaction work, not because Utah believes they have the potential to get the team further than Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Mo Williams, and Randy Foye could, writes Jody Genessy of The Deseret News.
Northwest Notes: Mozgov, Iggy, Splitter, Wolves
With the Thunder and Nuggets still looking strong, and the Timberwolves and Trail Blazers adding reinforcements, the Northwest could have four playoff contenders in 2013/14. Here's the latest out of the division:
- The Nuggets are getting "increasingly close" to an agreement with restricted free agent big man Timofey Mozgov, according to GM Tim Connelly (link via Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post).
- The Nuggets' failure to re-sign Andre Iguodala wasn't for lack of trying. Within a piece about the Warriors' newest acquisition, Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle says Iguodala passed on a front-loaded five-year, $60MM offer from the Nuggets, and nearly agreed to sign a lucrative deal with the Mavericks just an hour before reaching a deal with the Warriors.
- According to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com, the Trail Blazers reached an agreement with Tiago Splitter on a four-year, $36MM offer sheet. However, the team backed off when it became apparent that the Spurs would match.
- Now that the Timberwolves have traded Luke Ridnour, agents for free agent point guards will begin reaching out to the team, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Nate Robinson's camp figures to be among those in contact with the Wolves, though Wolfson doesn't see a fit there.
- The Jazz hope to use their remaining cap space to take on another contract and pick up another draft pick, as they did in their deal with the Warriors, tweets Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Western Notes: Pekovic, Warriors, Blazers, Mavs
As teams continue to finalize trade and free agent agreements, and peruse the market for hidden value, let's round up a few links related to Western Conference clubs….
- Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link) still fully expects Nikola Pekovic to be back with the Timberwolves, and hears the big man isn't in contact with the Mavericks.
- The Warriors never called the Lakers to discuss a sign-and-trade for Dwight Howard, since they were never told they were a real contender, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. That aligns with comments owner Joe Lacob made to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News earlier today.
- Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey indicated today to media, including Mike Tokito of the Oregonian (Twitter link), that he prefers to keep an open roster spot during the season, so the team could waive Terrel Harris before November.
- According to Sam Amick of USA Today, the Grizzlies considered Brad Stevens before he was hired by the Celtics, and a third unknown team was interested in the former Butler coach as well (Twitter links).
- Having lost last season's D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, to a single-affiliation partnership with the Kings, the Jazz will now align with the Bakersfield Jam, tweets Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune.
- Jose Calderon doesn't believe the Mavericks necessarily need a star center to compete, as he told 103.3 FM in Dallas (link via Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com).
Warriors Notes: Cap, Lee, Picks, TPEs, Jackson
3:44pm: Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group passes along a couple more notes on the Warriors' cap situation, via Twitter.
- Thompson confirms that Golden State will have trade exceptions worth Richard Jefferson's and Brandon Rush's salaries ($11,046,000 and $4,000,000 respectively).
- The team will also sign Marreese Speights and Toney Douglas using its mid-level exception, while Jermaine O'Neal will get the bi-annual exception.
2:07pm: Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News has conducted a lengthy Q&A with Warriors owner Joe Lacob about the team's approach to the offseason, and its recent moves. Lacob explains how Golden State identified Dwight Howard and Andre Iguodala as its top targets and went about acquiring Iguodala. The entire piece is worth a read, particularly for Warriors fans, but here are a few of the most notable tidbits:
- According to Lacob, the Warriors decided that now was the time to make a big move and add a major piece to the core, rather than letting contracts like Richard Jefferson's and Andris Biedrins' expire and trying to make a splash next summer.
- Lacob adds that the team was "never going to part with [its] core." While he doesn't name specific players, I'm guessing he's referring to Steph Curry, Harrison Barnes, and Klay Thompson.
- The Warriors "were always going to keep" David Lee as well, says Lacob, adding that the club never offered Lee to another team in trade talks.
- Lacob, addressing the fact that Andrew Bogut's and Lee's names surfaced in trade rumors: "These are NBA players; they know trades happen. It’s part of their lives, part of their business…. We didn’t want to trade any of them or give them up in any way. We wanted to do whatever could to add to them."
- The two first-round picks the Warriors sent to the Jazz are unprotected, Lacob confirms.
- Asked if more moves are coming, Lacob says he thinks the Warriors are "done for now."
- If the club does want to add another player, there should be trade exceptions available from the three-way trade with the Jazz and Nuggets. Lacob's words: "I know we have at least an 11 I believe and a 4. There might be a 9 in there too." By my math, the Warriors created TPEs worth $11,046,000 and $4,000,000, but won't have one for $9,000,000.
- Golden State is prepared to go into luxury-tax territory going forward, says Lacob.
- Lacob on possible trade options down the road: "We have a lot of assets at this point, a lot of really good players that people want. Bob Myers gets called every day—we had some amazing offers, people calling, not us calling them, on some really good players."
- Lacob envisions Mark Jackson as the Warriors' long-term coach, but says there's no specific timetable for extension talks.
Chris Copeland Signs Pacers’ Offer Sheet
JULY 11TH, 10:22am: Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com tweets that Copeland officially signed his offer sheet with the Pacers yesterday. I assume that even though the Knicks can't legally match the offer, the three-day period still must expire before Copeland formally becomes a Pacer.
JULY 5TH, 9:05pm: The precise figure of Copeland's two year deal is close to $6.2MM, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM.com, who also hears that no other team offered nearly as much as the Pacers (Twitter link).
7:27pm: The deal is fully guaranteed, Begley also tweets. Presumably, the Pacers are using a portion of their mid-level to get the deal done.
7:13pm: The deal is a two-year agreement worth $6MM, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com, so the Knicks can't match.
7:00pm: The Pacers and Chris Copeland are finalizing an agreement on a two-year deal, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Since he's a restricted free agent, the Knicks will have three days to match once the deal becomes final next week, following the end of the league's July Moratorium. However, since the Knicks only have about $1.75MM left on their mini mid-level exception after committing a portion of it to Pablo Prigioni, the Pacers have the ability to make Copeland an offer New York can't match.
There were several teams in play for the John Spencer client. Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com today added the Grizzlies to the list of suitors for Copeland, tweeting that the Lakers, Bucks, Jazz, and Pelicans all remained in the mix along with the Pacers. The Nuggets and Cavs were also among the teams involved, Spencer tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link).
Odds & Ends: Johnson, Blair, Mavs, Deng, Jazz
Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars introduced free agent signee Josh Smith to the media today, but Dumars says he isn't done upgrading the roster, as Rod Beard of the Detroit News observes. The team also brought Rasheed Wallace aboard as an assistant coach this week, providing a link to its championship past. Here's more from the rest of the league as teams and players covet the Larry O'Brien trophy:
- Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution hears Ivan Johnson is drawing interest from several teams, including the Hawks (Twitter link). Atlanta declined to offer Johnson a qualifying offer this summer, but the team can still re-sign him as an unrestricted free agent. Johnson let go of agent Larry Williams last week.
- The Mavs have "poked around" free agent DeJuan Blair, as Jeff Caplan of NBA.com tweets, so it appears the club may have some level of interest. The team is focusing on its frontcourt, and GM Donnie Nelson doesn't think the Mavs will be bringing on any more guards, as Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes at the end of his roundup.
- Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com thinks the Mavs should have been more willing to take a risk on Andrew Bynum.
- An NBA GM from outside the Bulls organization tells Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com that Luol Deng could command between $11MM and $12MM on the open market next summer. Deng and the Bulls appear to be working toward an extension (Twitter link).
- The Jazz may have had "different conversations with Mo Williams" if the team hadn't wound up with Trey Burke on draft night, GM Dennis Lindsey told reporters today, including Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link).
- Royce White, who's headed to the Sixers via trade, intends to play for the team, but is still reluctant to make frequent flights, as he tells Randy Peterson of the Des Moines Register (link via USA Today).
Renounced Players: Wednesday
As teams clear cap space to finalize signings and trades, it may mean renouncing Early Bird or Bird rights to their own free agents, in order to remove cap holds from the books. Once a player is renounced, his previous team has no more claim to him that any other team — he could still be re-signed, but it would have to be done using cap space or an exception. Some of those decisions are more notable than others, but for completion's sake, we'll track the latest of these cap-clearing moves right here:
- Mo Williams is the most prominent name among the several whose rights the Jazz renounced today, according to the RealGM transaction log. Al Jefferson, DeMarre Carroll and Earl Watson, who already have deals to join other teams, are also on the list, as are the long-retired Brevin Knight and Greg Ostertag.
- Bobcats are set to re-sign Josh McRoberts, but they won't be using their Early Bird rights to do so, as they've renounced his rights, RealGM shows. The team also renounced their rights to Reggie Williams, who's heading to the Rockets, and it cut ties with DeSagana Diop, Byron Mullens and Jannero Pargo, too.
- Golden State will sign Jermaine O'Neal, so the Suns have renounced his rights, as well as their rights to Wesley Johnson and Diante Garrett, as RealGM notes.
Earlier updates:
- The Hawks have cleared out unwanted cap holds from their books, renouncing their rights to Hilton Armstrong, Erick Dampier, Devin Harris, Dahntay Jones, Randolph Morris, Zaza Pachulia, Johan Petro, Josh Smith, and Etan Thomas, according to RealGM.com's transactions log.
- RealGM.com also has the Trail Blazers renouncing multiple players, including Luke Babbitt, J.J. Hickson, Eric Maynor, and Nolan Smith.
- Most interestingly, according to RealGM.com, the Bucks have renounced their rights to Monta Ellis. That doesn't necessarily preclude a sign-and-trade, but it would mean the team would have to use cap space rather than Ellis' Bird rights to accommodate a deal.
- The Pelicans have renounced their rights to Louis Amundson, Xavier Henry, and Roger Mason Jr., the team announced today in a press release.
- In order to clear cap room for their signings, the Pistons renounced Will Bynum, Jose Calderon, Vernon Macklin, Corey Maggette, Jason Maxiell, and Ben Wallace, according to RealGM's transactions log. The Pistons plan to re-sign Bynum, but removing his $6MM+ cap hold and signing him to a smaller figure using cap space makes the most sense.
- After renouncing their rights to Chauncey Billups and Lamar Odom, the Clippers have also renounced Bobby Simmons, according to RealGM.com's transactions log.
Jazz Acquire Biedrins, Jefferson, Rush, Picks
JULY 10TH, 4:40pm: Utah's agreement with the Warriors has been finalized and has been rolled into a separate deal, both teams confirmed. The breakdown:
- Utah receives Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson, Brandon Rush, two first-round picks (2014 and 2017 from Warriors), three second-round picks (2016 and 2017 from Warriors, 2018 from Nuggets), and cash (from Warriors).
- Denver receives Randy Foye (via sign-and-trade) and a second-round pick (2018 from Warriors).
- Golden State receives Andre Iguodala (via sign-and-trade) and Kevin Murphy.
JULY 5TH, 4:36pm: Both first-rounders the Jazz are acquiring in the deal will be unprotected, tweets Jody Genessy of the Deseret News.
4:01pm: The Warriors will send their 2014 and 2017 first-round picks to the Jazz, tweets Wojnarowski. Multiple second-rounders will also go to Utah in the deal, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter).
3:27pm: Murphy will be sent to the Warriors in the trade, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Meanwhile, Wojnarowski tweets that multiple draft picks are headed to the Jazz, including a 2014 first-rounder.
3:23pm: Brandon Rush is also headed to Utah in the deal, according to Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group. Shedding Rush's salary as well will give Golden State room under the cap to sign Iguodala.
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com adds (via Twitter) that the Warriors will receive a non-guaranteed contract from Utah in the trade. That player will be either Kevin Murphy or Jerel McNeal.
2:57pm: The Warriors have reached an agreement on a salary-dump trade with the Jazz, according to Adrian Wojnarowksi of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Andris Biedrins and Richard Jefferson will be heading to Utah in the deal, reports TNT's David Aldridge (via Twitter).
Rumors relating to the Warriors' trade talks with the Jazz had been swirling all day, as Golden State looked for a way to clear cap space to make a run at Dwight Howard and/or Andre Iguodala. The team ended up reaching an agreement to bring Iguodala aboard, and hasn't been entirely ruled out of the race for Howard.
Nuggets Acquire Randy Foye In Three-Way Deal
WEDNESDAY, 4:37pm: The Nuggets and Jazz have issued press releases officially announcing the three-way deal. Denver will send the Jazz a future second-round pick, as previously reported, but will also receive a future second-rounder from the Warriors in the deal. As I predicted yesterday, Golden State's trade with Utah has also been rolled into this one. In all, the deal looks like this:
- Utah receives Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson, Brandon Rush, two first-round picks (2014 and 2017 from Warriors), three second-round picks (2016 and 2017 from Warriors, 2018 from Nuggets), and cash (from Warriors).
- Denver receives Randy Foye (via sign-and-trade) and a second-round pick (2018 from Warriors).
- Golden State receives Andre Iguodala (via sign-and-trade) and Kevin Murphy.
TUESDAY, 3:30pm: The Nuggets, not the Warriors, will send the Jazz a 2018 second-rounder in the trade, according to Genessy (via Twitter).
This strongly suggests to me that the Warriors and Jazz will be folding their earlier agreement into this deal, since not doing so would mean there are no outgoing pieces coming from Golden State. As noted below, folding the two deals into one should allow the Warriors to keep a $11MM+ TPE rather than a $9MM one.
MONDAY, 3:20pm: The Warriors, Nuggets, and Jazz have agreed to a three-way trade that will send Randy Foye to Denver and Andre Iguodala to Golden State via sign-and-trades, according to Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. Genessy reports that the Jazz will receive a 2018 second-round pick from the Warriors in the deal. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported late last night that the three teams were involved in "advanced discussions."
According to Wojnarowski's initial report, Foye will receive a three-year, $9MM contract from the Nuggets, with a team option on the third season. ESPN.com's Marc Stein first reported late last night that Foye and the Nuggets were closing in on a verbal agreement. Meanwhile, the deal will mean yet another pick headed to Utah from the Warriors, who are already set to send the Jazz multiple picks in another trade agreement.
Over the weekend, I explained why the Warriors would likely pursue a sign-and-trade agreement with Denver rather than sign Iguodala outright, despite having already agreed to a four-year contract with him. In that piece, I suggested that Golden State would take on Iguodala using the $11,046,000 trade exception the team will create by moving Richard Jefferson, allowing the club to retain its other TPEs and the full mid-level. However, by incorporating Utah into this deal, the Warriors may be able to combine their two agreements with the Jazz into one trade, allowing them to keep the slightly larger Jefferson TPE rather than the $9MM exception for Biedrins.
For Denver, the agreement will allow the team to add Foye and create a trade exception worth Iguodala's new salary. Since the Nuggets project to be an over-the-cap team, it looks like they'll have to use some of that Iguodala TPE in order to acquire Foye, but there still should be $8MM+ left on it when the dust settles.