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New York Notes: Nets, Pierce, Knicks, Executives

October 8th, 2014 at 10:26am CST by Chuck Myron

The Nets and Knicks will renew their intracity rivalry this season as both teams hope to get off to faster starts than they did in 2013/14. Each club figures to be in the mix for a playoff spot again this season, so while we wait to see if we’ll have a subway series come the postseason, here’s the latest from the Big Apple:

Nets GM Billy King insists the team is still doggedly pursuing a championship and isn’t focused on making financial cutbacks, telling reporters, including Newsday’s Rod Boone, that he still has permission from owner Mikhail Prokhorov to make expensive acquisitions. King made his remarks in response to Paul Pierce‘s assertion that the team was no longer willing to spend to win. ” . . . We have some younger guys like Mason Plumlee who are under rookie contracts, and that helps your payroll. But [Prokhorov] hasn’t wavered in pursuit of what he wants,” King said.
That seems to conflict with King’s admission last month that money was a factor in the team’s decision not to re-sign Pierce and that the club doesn’t want to repeat its more than $190MM expenditure on players and luxury taxes last season. Pierce’s representatives with Excel Sports Management asked the Nets for a two-year, $24MM deal this summer, but the Nets didn’t want to pay that much, according to Boone.
Former Magic GM John Gabriel‘s influence is growing within the Knicks front office, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post. Gabriel, who holds the title of director of basketball operations, is on the upswing while former Nuggets GM and current Knicks director of player personnel Mark Warkentien is losing sway, and assistant GM Allan Houston doesn’t have the pull that he once had, either, Berman adds.
The Knicks have hired former D-League assistant and small college head coach Kevin Whitted as head coach of their D-League affiliate, the team announced. Whitted went to college with Houston, who serves as the GM of the Knicks D-League affiliate in addition to his duties with the big club.

Southeast Notes: Ariza, Bosh, Magic, Curry

October 7th, 2014 at 1:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

The presence of mainstays Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem is a decided advantage for the Heat, as each of them turned down lucrative player options for the betterment of the team and re-signed with Miami for less this summer. Coach Erik Spoelstra believes that franchises that have players like that are in an even better position under the latest collective bargaining agreement, one that’s brought about shorter contracts and rapid-fire player movement, as Spoelstra explains to Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald. Indeed, that sort of loyalty is hard to come by, and it helps explain why either the Heat, Spurs, Lakers or both have appeared in each of the last 16 NBA Finals. Here’s more on the Heat and their Southeast Division rivals:

Trevor Ariza insists the lack of state income tax in Texas was significant enough financial motivation for him to sign with the Rockets for the same four years and $32MM that the Wizards offered, as he tells Michael Lee of The Washington Post. Until the finances got in the way, Ariza says to Lee that he was fully expecting to return to the Wizards. “I thought I was going to be a Wizard for a long time, but when that didn’t happen [the Rockets] definitely pursued me the hardest,” Ariza said. “Everything happens for a reason. It’s a business. So sometimes, teams make business decisions and you’ve got to live with that. I grew up in this league, obviously, I was 19 [when he was drafted]. So I’ve matured. So in life, I moreso understand the business of things and accept it.”
Chris Bosh was one of several players who signed long-term deals this summer that carry through 2016, the first year that the new TV contracts kick in, but he told reporters today that the allure of guaranteed max money for five years was too much to pass up. Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald tweets the details.
The Magic‘s D-League affiliate traded for the D-League rights to Seth Curry today, the club announced. Curry is in NBA camp with the Magic, but it’ll be tough for him make the opening-night roster on his partially guaranteed deal. So, the D-League swap signals that Orlando would like to keep a close eye on Curry should he decide to play in the D-League in the likely event that the Magic waive him at the end of the preseason.

Eastern Notes: MCW, Miller, Hornets, LeBron

October 6th, 2014 at 8:37pm CST by Zachary Links

The 76ers appear to be a very future-minded organization, but Michael Carter-Williams is only focused on winning in the present, writes Michael Kaskey-Blomain of Philly.com. “I can’t sit here and look too far in the future,” Carter-Williams explained. “I know that it may seem that that’s where the hope is, in the future, and a lot of people are focused on that, but we won’t get to that future if we don’t go through what we need to go through now.” As we wait to see if MCW can help the Sixers surprise people this season, let’s have a look at the latest from the East:

Wizards guard Andre Miller refuses to say that the upcoming season will be his last, observes J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. Miller, 38, hopes to continue playing beyond this season and says that he feels good as 2014/15 fast approaches. The veteran averaged career lows of 4.9 points and 3.4 assists last season.
The offseason addition of Lance Stephenson should help the Hornets take the next step towards becoming an Eastern Conference contender, writes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. The controversial forward averaged 13.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists while shooting 49.1 percent from the field last season, and at 24 years old, he has plenty of room to grow.
Just like a new TV deal was negotiated years in advance, Cavs star LeBron James says he would like to see a new CBA hammered out ahead of time, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. “We would love to do it sooner than later,” said James.

Charlie Adams contributed to this post.

Atlantic Notes: Pierce, Lockout, ‘Melo, Johnson

October 6th, 2014 at 4:16pm CST by Chuck Myron

Paul Pierce originally thought he’d wind up re-signing with the Nets, but he tells TNT’s David Aldridge that Brooklyn never made an offer, as Aldridge writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Pierce said the Clippers looked like Plan B, but the Nets wouldn’t accommodate a sign-and-trade once Doc Rivers used the team’s mid-level exception on Spencer Hawes instead.

“You know what, I didn’t know what to expect,” Pierce said. “Brooklyn’s been, or New Jersey, Brooklyn, they’re a franchise that’s going in a different direction, I think. They said they wanted to cut costs; they felt like they weren’t going to be a contender. Right now, they’re kind of in the middle right now. And I really didn’t want to be in the middle. I didn’t know if they wanted to do a sign-and-trade. I had to make my own destiny. I couldn’t put it in the faith of somebody else. And that’s when I was like, I’m coming here [to the Wizards].”

The reference to New Jersey seems like a subtle twist of the knife on Pierce’s part, given the desire of Nets brass to establish the Brooklyn monicker, as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News points out. Here’s more from around the Atlantic.

Nets union representative Deron Williams believes the league and the players are on a path toward a work stoppage in 2017, noting that preparing for one was the focus of a union meeting in July, as he told reporters, including Bondy, who writes in a separate piece.
Carmelo Anthony said today that he had no interest this summer in signing a two-year deal, as LeBron James and others did, to take advantage of the influx of TV revenues, notes Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal (Twitter link).
The Celtics had hoped to find a way to keep Chris Johnson amid the flurry of transactions surrounding the Keith Bogans trade, notes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. The Sixers claimed him off waivers after the C’s let him go.

Wizards Waive David Stockton, Vander Blue

October 3rd, 2014 at 10:47pm CST by Eddie Scarito

10:47pm: Both players have been officially waived, the team has announced.

10:20pm: The Wizards began paring down their preseason roster tonight by deciding to waive Vander Blue and David Stockton, Chris Mannix of SI.com is reporting (Twitter link). Both of the guards came to camp on non-guaranteed deals. These moves will reduce Washington’s preseason roster count to 18, with 13 fully guaranteed contracts and one that is partially guaranteed still on the books. Blue and Stockton were longshots to make the regular season roster for a Wizards team that is projected to be one of the top five teams in the Eastern Conference this season.

Blue went undrafted out of Marquette in 2013 and spent the bulk of last season splitting time between Maccabi Rishon LeZion of the Israeli League and the NBA D-League, where he appeared in a total of 27 games for three teams. Blue’s D-League stats were 16.8 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 2.9 APG. His slash line was .393/.327/.763. Blue joined the Celtics in January on a 10-day contract, making three appearances and logging 1.7 PPG.

Stockton, the son of NBA legend John Stockton, went undrafted this year after four seasons at Gonzaga. His college numbers were an unimpressive 4.8 PPG, 1.6 RPG, and 3.1 APG. His career slash line was .424/.306/.700. Stockton played for the Suns in the summer league, scoring a total of six points in less than 19 minutes over two games.

Eastern Notes: Webster, Heat, McDaniels

October 2nd, 2014 at 10:13pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Martell Webster doesn’t envision himself playing basketball for much longer thanks to chronic back pain, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post writes. Webster is still in the process of rehabbing from his third back surgery in four years, and says he’ll most likely retire when his contract with the Wizards runs out in 2017. “I’ve always wanted to retire young,” Webster said. “I love this game and I respect this game, but I only want to be in it as long as I can be effective and as long as I can feel comfortable.”

Here’s the latest happenings in the Eastern Conference:

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra isn’t necessarily looking for his new players to replace the departed LeBron James, Ray Allen, and James Jones, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes. “Number one,” Spoelstra said, “we have to look at this team differently. It’s in a different lens. So we might not have to fill in the same boxes that we’ve had in the past. I think that might be a dangerous way to look at it. It’s open to where to this group can go. We felt, secondly, that we have enough shooting, and we’re encouraged by the guys that, one, either have a resume for it, or, two, have really been working on it.“
The Hornets and Hawks might live to regret only inking Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap respectively, to shorter deals than they could have, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders opines. While he believes the idea of short-term deals is a sound one, Jefferson is all but assured to exercise his player option next summer, and both are expected to test out the free agent market. Both franchises will face competition to re-sign their players, and the new deals might prove more costly than if both players had simply been signed to longer deals in the first place.
Kyler also weighed in on K.J. McDaniels‘ deal with the Sixers. According to Kyler, McDaniels did the smart thing in rejecting Philly’s original four-year offer with very little in guaranteed money. McDaniels has an excellent chance at seeing significant playing time this season, and could easily parlay a decent season into a three or four year deal worth $4MM or $5MM, which would in essence double what the Sixers offered him, notes Kyler. By signing a one-year arrangement McDaniels will become a restricted free agent at season’s end.

And-Ones: Maxiell, Clippers, Thunder, Brooks

October 2nd, 2014 at 2:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Jason Maxiell agreed to join the Hornets knowing that the team envisions him in a capacity more similar to the reduced role he played for the Magic last year than to the 71-start campaign he had with the Pistons in 2012/13, as Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer examines.

“It’s both maturing in life and maturing in basketball,” Maxiell said. “Respect your coach, your owner and your teammates, and help the other guys to understand this is a career. It’s not just playing basketball, it’s getting to a place where you can do other things after basketball.”

The pressure’s on the 31-year-old to make an impression this month, since he has a non-guaranteed deal. Here’s more from around the league:

Doc Rivers admits that the Clippers have a greater need at point guard, a position that Jared Cunningham can play, than at the forwards, Joe Ingles‘ positions, but Rivers insists that he won’t necessarily make a decision on the final regular season roster based on that. Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times has the details.
The contracts of Thunder camp invitees Lance Thomas, Michael Jenkins, Richard Solomon and Talib Zanna are all non-guaranteed for the minimum salary and cover just one season, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). All four fit the criteria for Exhibit 9 Contracts that would keep the Thunder from paying them if they’re injured during camp, but it’s unclear whether any of them agreed to such a deal.
Championship dreams led Aaron Brooks to sign for just the minimum salary when he joined the Bulls, as he tells Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders. Former Bulls and fellow Seattle natives Nate Robinson and Jamal Crawford gave Brooks full-throated endorsements of the organization, as Brooks says to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link).
Agent Charles Briscoe is joining forces with NFL agent Joby Branion to form Vanguard Sports Group, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. Our Agency Database shows that Briscoe, who formerly operated through Briscoe Sports Management, represents Archie Goodwin and Joe Jackson of the Suns, Xavier Silas of the Wizards, and Junior Cadougan, who was briefly with the Bucks last fall.

Southeast Notes: Millsap, Heat, Pierce

October 1st, 2014 at 5:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Hawks expect to have competition for Paul Millsap‘s services next summer when the player hits free agency, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. But Atlanta intends to try and keep the power forward on their roster, notes Vivlamore. “We want to keep him,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “He is someone who is really important to us. He fits us very well. We’ve communicated that with him on a regular basis.”

Here’s more from the Southeast Division:

Chris Andersen‘s decision to re-sign with the Heat never depended on what LeBron James ultimately decided to do, Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post writes (Twitter link). Andersen told Lieser that he knew he wanted to return to Miami prior to the free agent signing period beginning.
A businessman named Haider Zafar might have directly contributed to LeBron leaving the Heat, Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald writes. Zafar, who allegedly conned Mike Miller, James Jones and Rashard Lewis out of millions in 2013, is expected to plead guilty to multiple wire fraud charges. Goodman details Zafar’s saga, and how the organization’s treatment of Miller in the wake of the fraud, including amnestying him, and refusing to reach a settlement that would return a portion of the swindled funds that went towards purchasing tickets to Heat games, left a lingering bad feeling between James and the Heat organization.
Paul Pierce chose the Wizards this offseason in free agency after discussions with then-Wizards assistant coach Sam Cassell and former Washington forward Al Harrington convinced him that it was the right place to continue and possibly finish off his career, Adi Joseph of USA Today writes. “I asked them at first what the guys were like to work with, you know, Bradley Beal and all these guys,” Pierce said. “I asked them about the culture, ‘Are there good guys in the locker room?’ And they kept on saying, ‘You’re really gonna like these guys. You’re really gonna like these guys’.“

Wizards Officially Announce Six Camp Deals

September 29th, 2014 at 9:22am CST by Chuck Myron

The Wizards have officially announced the signings of Vander Blue, Xavier Silas, David Stockton, Rasual Butler, Damion James and Daniel Orton. The team statement is an acknowledgement of reports regarding all six, all of whom had already agreed to join the team for training camp.

They’re all non-guaranteed arrangements for the minimum salary. The length of Orton’s deal is unclear, but the rest are on one-year contracts, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, so that makes them eligible for Exhibit 9 Contracts that limit the team’s liability if they’re injured during training camp.

The group of six joins 13 Wizards with fully guaranteed pacts, along with Glen Rice Jr., whose minimum salary pact is partially guaranteed for $400K, roughly half its value. A report from J. Michael of CSNWashington last week seemed to indicate that James and Silas had an edge for the team’s 15th regular season roster spot, though Michael wrote earlier that there’s a decent chance the team won’t carry a full complement of players for opening night.

Eastern Notes: Butler, Rondo, Deng

September 28th, 2014 at 11:43am CST by Eddie Scarito

All things being equal, the Bulls would prefer to reach an extension with Jimmy Butler rather than let him hit restricted free agency next summer, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune notes. Of course, finding an amenable price point is the challenge, as Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors examined as he wrote about Butler as an extension candidate.

Here’s more from the east:

Prior to breaking his hand, Rajon Rondo was the subject of trade talk around the league. While this latest setback certainly harms Rondo’s trade value, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com thinks there’s still time for it to be rebuilt and the Celtics to determine if they want to re-sign Rondo long-term or deal him.
During the Heat‘s media day Luol Deng spoke with Surya Fernandez of FoxSports.com. When asked about replacing LeBron James at small forward, Deng said, “I would never try to replace anybody, whether somebody is better than me or if I’m better than somebody. I think that we all bring different things. The biggest mistake I would make is to try to be LeBron. I’m not LeBron. My whole life — I’m 29 years old — I’ve never been able to be somebody I’m not. So I just got to be myself, work hard and try to do my best. My ultimate focus is what can I bring to this team and that’s it.”
Deng also was asked about Danny Ferry‘s comments and he said, “It’s been behind me, honestly. I think that it just came back to the surface (in Media Day) because it’s the first time I’m seeing everybody but honestly I think that after I made my statement it was over with. I can’t control what everyone thinks or how everyone feels. My position is I really forgive Danny Ferry and people make mistakes. I’m ready to move on. Whatever it is or whatever it came from, let’s just make sure it doesn’t happen again to someone else and make sure we just improve as human beings and how we view other people. That’s really about it.“
After a breakthrough campaign last season the Wizards look to take the next step towards being a contender in the east. Adi Joseph of USA Today previews Washington’s 2014/15 season and projects they will snag the No. 3 playoff seed.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.